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LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


LIFE  OF 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


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I  :fa    «f    r.anrn-a    Wochinirtftii        By    QEORQE    WASHINQTON    PARKE 

Lite  or  ueorge  nasningion    custis  and  charles  walter 

BROWN,  A.  M.  Cloth.  Being  a  complete  account  of  the  boyhood,  youth  and 
mature  years  of  the  illustrious  Father  of  his  Country,  showing  his  early  strug- 
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lifa    nt    Ahi-Qham    \inrn\n    By  JOSEPH    H.  BARRETT  and  CHARLES 

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Lite  Ot  w.   I.  ^nernian  charles  walter  brown,  a.  m.  cioth. 

Being  a  graphic  history  of  his  career  in  war  and  peace;  his  romantic  youth; 
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President  McKinley  and  the  story  of  his  assassination  there  is  also  a  brief  though 
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I  ;f  a  nf  D  T  Rorniim  By  HON.  JOEL  BENTON.  Cloth.  Comprising  his 
LIIC  Ul  !•  I>  DalllUIII  boyhood,  youth,  the  vicissitudes  of  his  early  years; 
his  great  struuffles;  brilliantoutorprises;  astounding  successes;  disastrouslosses; 
Napoleonic  triumphs;  his  reception  by  Kings,  Queens,  Emperors  and  the  Nobili- 
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Vosbrink    Mercantile    Co. 

CHICAGO 


7^/-^9?^^e.<^iy^ 


LIFE    OF 


Abraham  Lincoln 


His  Early  History,  Political  Career,  Speeches  in 
and  out  of  Congress,  together   with  many 
Characteristic     Stories     and     Yarns 
by   and     concerning    Lincoln 
which  has    Earned    for 
him  the  Sobri- 
quet— 

"The    Story    Telling    President' 


BY 

JOSEPH   H.   BARRETT 

AND 

CHARLES  WALTER  BROWN,  A.  M. 


FUULY    ILLUSTRATED. 


VOSBRINK  MERCANTILE  CO., 
CHICAGO. 


Copyright  1902 

M.  A.  DoNOHUE  &  Co. 

Chicago. 


BBtlJ^ 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter  I. 
Lincoln's  Early  Boyhood  In  Kentucky  and  Indiana..     15 

Chapter  II. 
First  Years  In  Illinois— 1830-34 25 

Chapter  III. 
Eight  Years  In  The  Legislature  of  Illinois— 1834-41 . .     37 

Chapter  IV. 
Elected  a  Member  of  Congress 51 

Chapter  V. 
Mr.  Lincoln  In  Congress — 1847-49 63 

Chapter  VI. 

Professional  Life — The  Anti-Nebraska  Canvass — 1849- 
1854 87 

Chapter  VII. 
The  Lincoln-Douglas  Campaign  of  1858 105 

Chapter  VIII. 
Speeches  of  1859-60 137 

Chapter  IX. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Nomination  for  the  Presidency 149 

5 


6  Contexts. 

Chapter  X. 

Commencement  of  President  Lincoln's  First  Adminis- 
tration     157 

Chapter  XI. 
Mr.  Lincoln's  First  Message 175 

Chapter  XII. 
Mr.  Lincoln's  Messages  and  Speeches 199 

Chapter  XIII. 
The  Peninsular  Campaign 231 

Chapter  XIV. 
A  New  Era  Inaugurated 245 

Chapter  XV. 
The  Popular  Voice  in  1863 277 

Chapter  XVI. 
President  Lincoln  Re-nominated 317 

Chapter  XVII. 
President  Lincoln's  Last  Annual  Message  and  Second 
Inaugural 341 

Chapter  XVIII. 
Last  Days  of  President  Lincoln 383 

Chapter  XIX. 
Characteristic  Stories  by  and   Concerning  Abraham 
Lincoln 399 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  ancestors  of  Abraham  Lincoln  were  of  English 
descent.  We  find  the  earUest  definite  traces  of  them  in 
Berke  county,  Pennsylvania,  though  this  was  almost  cer- 
tainly not  the  first  place  of  their  residence  in  this  country. 
Their  location,  and  their  adherence  to  the  Quaker  faith 
make  it  probable  that  the  original  emigration  occurred 
under  the  auspices  of  William  Penn.  It  was  doubtless 
a  branch  of  the  same  family  that,  leaving  England  under 
different  religious  impulses,  but  with  the  same  adventurous 
and  independent  spirit,  settled,  at  an  earlier  date,  in  Old 
Plymouth  Colony.  The  separation  may  possibly  have 
taken  place  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  not  beyond. 
Some  of  the  same  traits  appear  conspicuously  in  both 
these  family  groups.  One  tradition  indeed  affirms  that 
the  Pennsylvania  branch  was  transplanted  from  Hingham, 
Massachusetts,  and  was  derived  from  a  common  stock  with 
General  Benjamin  Lincoln,  of  Revolutionary  fame.  There 
is  a  noticeable  coincidence  in  the  general  prevalence,  in 
each  American  branch,  of  Scriptural  names  in  christening — 
the  Benjamin,  Levi  and  Ezra,  of  Massachusetts,  having 
their  counterpart  in  the  Abraham,  Thomas,  and  Josiah, 
of  Virginia  and  Kentucky.  The  peculiarity  is  one  to  have 
been  equally  expected  among  sober  Friends,  and  among 
zealous  Puritans. 

Berks  county  was  not  very  long  the  home  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's  immediate   progenitors.     There   can   hardly   have 

7 


8  Life    of    Abraham    Lincoln. 

been  more  than  a  slender  pioneer  settlement  there,  when 
one  or  more  of  the  number  made  another  remove,  not  far 
from  the  year  1750,  to  what  is  now  Rockingham  county, 
Virginia.  Old  Berks  was  first  settled  about  1734 — then, 
too,  as  a  German  colony — and  was  not  organized  as  a 
county  until  1752;  before  which  date,  according  to  family 
traditions,  this  removal  to  Virginia  took  place. 

This,  it  will  be  observed,  was  pre-eminently  a  pioneer 
stock,  evidently  much  in  love  with  backwoods  adventure, 
and  constantly  courting  the  dangers  and  hardships  of 
forest  life. 

Rockingham  county,  Virginia,  though  situated  in  the 
beautiful  valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  and  inviting,  by  its 
natural  resources,  the  advances  of  civilization,  must  never- 
theless have  been,  at  the  time  just  mentioned,  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  wilderness.  Now,  it  is  one  of  the  most  produc- 
tive counties  of  Virginia,  having  exceeded  every  other 
county  in  the  State,  according  to  the  census  of  1850,  in  its 
crops  of  wheat  and  hay.  A  branch  of  the  family,  it  is  un- 
derstood, still  remains  there,  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  so 
judicious  a  selection,  and  of  the  labors  and  imperfectly  re- 
quited endurances  of  those  first  settlers. 

From  this  locality,  about  the  year  1782,  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, grandfather  of  him  who  was  to  make  the  name  illus- 
trious, started  Westward  across  the  Alleghanies,  attracted 
by  the  accounts  which  had  reached  him  of  the  wonderfully 
fertile  and  beautiful  country  explored  by  Daniel  Boone, 
on  and  near  the  Kentucky  river.  During  all  his  lifetime, 
hitherto,  he  could  have  known  little  of  any  other  kind  of 
existence  than  that  to  which  he  had  been  educated  as  an 
adventurous  frontiersman.  The  severe  labor  of  preparing 
the  heavily-timbered  lands  of  Shenandoah  for  cultivation, 
the  wild  delights  of  hunting  the  then  abundant  game  of  the 
woods,  and  the  exciting  hazards  of  an  uncertain  warfare 


Life  op  Abraham  Lincoln.  9 

with  savage  enemies,  had  been  almost  the  sole  occupation 
of  his  rough  and  healthful  life.  Perhaps  the  settlements 
around  him  had  already  begun  to  be  too  far  advanced  for 
the  highest  enjoyment  of  his  characteristic  mode  of  living; 
or  possibly,  with  others,  he  aspired  to  the  possession  of 
more  fertile  fields,  and  to  an  easier  subsistence.  Whatever 
the  reason,  he  set  out  at  the  time  just  stated,  with  his  wife 
and  several  young  children,  on  his  long  journey  across  the 
mountains,  and  over  the  broad  valleys  intervening  between 
the  Shenandoah  and  the  Kentucky. 

At  this  date,  and  for  ten  or  twelve  years  later,  the  present 
State  of  Kentucky  formed  part  of  the  old  Commonwealth 
of  Virginia.  "The  dark  and  bloody  ground, "  as  afterward 
named  for  better  reasons  than  the  fiction  which  assigns  this 
meaning  to  its  Indian  appellation,  had  then  been  but  re- 
cently entered  upon  by  the  white  man.  Its  first  explorer, 
Daniel  Boone,  whose  very  name  suggests  a  whole  world  of 
romance  and  adventure,  had  removed,  when  a  mere  boy 
among  the  earlier  emigrants  from  Eastern  Peimsylvania, 
to  Berlcs  county.  Here  he  must  have  been  a  contemporary 
resident,  and  was  perhaps  an  acquaintance,  of  some  of 
the  younger  members  of  the  Lincoln  family.  At  all  events, 
as  substantially  one  of  their  own  neighbors,  they  must  have 
watched  his  later  course  with  eager  interest,  and  sympathy, 
and  caught  inspiration  from  his  exploits.  At  eighteen, 
Boone  had  again  emigrated  with  his  father,  as  before,  to  the 
banks  of  the  Yadkin,  a  mountain  river  in  the  northwest  of 
North  Carolina,  at  just  about  the  same  date  as  the  removal 
of  the  Lincolns  to  Virginia.  Some  years  later,  Boone,  in 
liis  hunting  excursions,  had  passed  over  and  admired  large 
tracts  of  the  wilderness  north  of  his  home,  and  especially 
along  a  branch  of  the  Cumberland  river,  within  the  limits 
of  what  is  now  Kentucky.  It  was  not  until  1769,  however, 
that,  with  five  associates,  he  made  the  thorough  explora- 


10  Life   of  Abraham   Lincoln. 

tion  of  the  Kentucky  valley,  which  resulted  in  the  sub- 
sequent settlements  there.  The  glowing  descriptions, 
which  ultimately  got  abroad,  of  the  incredible  richness  and 
beauty  of  these  new  and  remote  forest-climes  of  Trans- 
Alleghanian  Virginia,  and  of  their  alluring  hunting-grounds, 
must  have  early  reached  the  ears  of  the  boyhood-com- 
panions of  Daniel  Boone,  and  spread  through  the  neigh- 
boring country.  The  stirring  adventures  of  the  pioneer 
hero,  during  the  next  five  or  six  years,  and  the  beginnings 
of  substantial  settlements  in  that  far-west  country,  must 
have  suggested  new  attractions  thitherward,  to  the  more 
active  and  daring  spirits,  whose  ideal  of  manhood  Boone  , 
so  nearly  approached. 

From  the  borders,  in  various  directions,  hundreds  of 
miles  away,  emigration  had  now  begun.  These  recruits 
were  from  that  class  of  hardy  frontiersmen  most  inured  to 
the  kind  of  toils  they  were  to  encounter  anew  in  the 
Kentucky  forests.  They  went  forward,  fearless  of  the 
dangers  to  be  encountered  from  the  numerous  bands  of 
Indians  already  re-commencing  hostilities,  after  a  tempor- 
ary pacification.  Here  was  a  common  territory  and  place 
of  meeting  for  the  tribes,  both  of  the  North  and  the  South, 
and  here,  before  and  after  this  date,  there  were  many  ex- 
citing adventures  and  deadly  conflicts  with  these  savages, 
whose  favorite  haunts  had  been  thus  imceremoniously  in- 
vaded. 

It  was  not  far  from  the  date  of  the  disastrous  battle  of 
the  Lower  Blue  Licks,  in  1782,  that  the  grandfather  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  with  his  young  family,  reached  the 
region  which  had,  perhaps,  long  been  the  promised  land 
of  his  dreams.  The  exact  place  at  which  he  settled  is  not 
known.  According  to  the  family  tradition,  it  was  some- 
where on  Floyd's  creek,  supposed  to  be  near  its  mouth,  in 
what  is  now  Bullitt  county.     On  the  other  hand,  in  the 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  11 

field-book  of  Daniel  Boone,  who  was  a  deputy-surveyor 
under  Colonel  Thomas  Marshall,  father  of  Chief  Justice 
Marshall,  is  the  following  memorandum:  "Abraham 
Lincoln  enters  500  acres  of  land,  on  a  Treasury  Warrant — 
No.  5994  —  beginning  opposite  Charles  Yancey's  upper 
line,  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  running  south  200  poles, 
then  up  the  river  for  quantity,  11th  December,  1782." 
Yancey's  land,  as  appears  from  the  same  book,  was  on  the 
north  side  of  the  "main"  Licking  Creek,  as  then  desig- 
nated. 

The  emigrant  had  made  but  a  mere  beginning  in  his  new 
pioneer  labors,  when,  wliile  at  work  one  day,  at  a  distance 
from  his  cabin,  unsuspecting  of  danger,  he  was  killed  by 
an  Indian,  who  had  stolen  upon  him  unaware.  His  widow, 
thus  suddenly  bereaved  in  a  new  and  strange  land,  had 
now  their  three  sons  and  two  daughters  left  to  her  sole 
protection  and  care,  with  probably  little  means  for  their 
support.  She  soon  after  removed  to  what  became  Wash- 
ington county,  in  the  same  State,  and  there  reared  her 
children,  all  of  whom  reached  mature  age.  One  of  the 
daughters  was  married  to  a  Mr.  Crume,  and  the  other  to  a 
man  named  Bromfield.  The  three  sons,  named  Thomas, 
Mordecai  and  Josiah,  all  remained  in  Kentucky  until  after 
their    majority. 

Thomas  Lincoln,  one  of  these  sons,  was  born  in  1778, 
while  the  Revolution  was  in  full  sway.  He  was  a  mere 
child  when  his  father  removed  to  Kentucky,  and  was  but 
six  years  old  at  the  time  of  the  latter's  death.  The  date  of 
this  event  was  consequently  about  1784.  Of  the  early  life 
of  the  orphan  boy  we  have  no  knowledge,  except  what  can 
be  learned  of  the  general  lot  of  his  class,  and  of  the  habits 
and  modes  of  living  then  prevalent  among  the  hardy  pio- 
neers of  Kentucky.  These  backwoodsmen  had  an  unceas- 
ing round  of  hard  toils,  with  no  immediate  reward  but  a 


12  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

bare  subsistence  from  year  to  year,  and  the  cheering  prom- 
ise of  better  days  in  the  future.  But  even  their  lands,  as 
in  the  case  of  Boone,  they  were  not  always  so  fortunate  as 
to  retain  in  fee. 

More  comfortable  days  and  a  much  improved  state  of 
things  had  come  before  Thomas  arrived  at  maturity;  but 
in  his  boyhood  and  youth,  he  must  have  known  whatever 
was  worst  in  the  trials  and  penury  of  the  first  generation 
of  Kentucky  frontiersmen,  with  few  other  enjo3Tnents  than 
an  occasional  practice  with  liis  rifle.  His  training  was 
suited  to  develop  a  strong,  muscular  frame,  and  a  rugged 
constitution,  with  a  characteristic  quickness  of  perception 
and  promptness  of  action.  The  Kentuckian  of  that  and 
•the  succeeding  generation  had  generally  a  tall,  stalwart 
frame,  a  frank  and  courteous  heart,  and  a  humorous  and 
slightly  quaint  turn  of  speech,  a  fondness  for  adventure 
and  for  the  sports  of  hunting,  a  manly  self-respect,  and  a 
fearless  independence  of  spirit. 

This  generation  began  its  life  with  the  independent  ex- 
istence of  the  nation,  and  partook  largely  of  the  spirit  of 
exultant  self-confideuce  then  abroad  tlirough  the  land. 

These  were  the  circumstances  and  associations  under 
which,  in  those  primeval  days  in  Kentucky,  Thomas  Lin- 
coln passed  through  the  period  of  boyhood  and  youth. 
At  the  date  of  the  political  separation  from  Virginia,  in 
1792,  and  the  formation  of  a  now  State,  tMs  orphan  boy, 
struggling  to  aid  liis  mother  in  the  support  of  the  ill-for- 
tuned family,  had  reached  the  age  of  fourteen.  The  cur- 
rents of  emigration  had  become  enlarged  and  accelerated 
meantime,  until  the  population  was  swelled  as  early  as 
1790,  to  more  than  73,000;  and  during  the  next  ten  years 
it  was  more  than  trebled,  reacliing  220,000.  The  wilder- 
ness that  once  was  around  Boonesborough,  Harrodsburg, 
and  Lexington,  was  now  blossoming  as  the  rose.     Still,  how- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  13 

ever,  there  was  ample  space  unoccupied,  within  the  Umits  of 
of  the  new  State,  for  those  who  craved  the  excitements  and 
the  loneliness  of  a  home  in  the  wilderness. 

In  1806,  Thomas  Lincoln,  being  twenty-eight  years  of 
age,  was  married  to  Nancy  Hanks,  a  native  of  Virginia,  and 
settled  in  what  was  then  Hardin  county,  Kentucky.  It 
does  not  appear  that  the  parents  of  Miss  Hanks  ever  re- 
moved to  Kentucky,  though  others  of  the  family  did  so. 
Of  the  history  of  her  ancestry,  we  have  no  definite  particu- 
lars. Her  position  in  life  appears  to  have  been  not  dissim- 
ilar to  that  of  her  husband.  That  she  possessed  some  rare 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart,  there  is  reason  to  believe; 
although  dying  at  an  early  age,  and  having,  from  the  time 
of  her  marriage,  passed  her  days  on  obscure  frontiers,  few 
recollections  of  her  remain.  These  were  the  parents  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  the  immortal. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Lincoln's  early  boyhood  in  Kentucky  and  Indiana. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  born  on  the  12th  of  February, 
1809.  The  place  where  his  parents  resided,  is  in  what  is 
now  Larne  county,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Hodgen- 
ville,  the  county-seat,  and  seven  miles  from  Elizabethtown, 
laid  off  several  years  previously,  as  the  county  seat  of 
Hardin  county.  He  had  one  sister,  two  years  his  senior, 
who  grew  to  womanhood,  married  and  died  while  yet 
yoimg.  He  had  a  brother,  two  years  younger  than  himself, 
who  died  in  early  childhood.  Mr.  Lincoln  remembers 
having  visited  the  now  unmarked  grave  of  this  little  one, 
along  with  his  mother,  before  leaving  Kentucky.  These 
were  the  only  children  of  Thomas  Lincoln,  either  by  the 
present  or  by  a  subsequent  marriage. 

Larne  county,  named  from  an  early  settler,  John  Larne, 
was  set  off  and  separately  organized  in  1843,  the  portion 
containing  Mr.  Lincoln's  birthplace  having  been,  up  to  that 
date,  included  in  Hardin  county.  It  is  a  rich  grazing 
country  in  its  more  rolling  and  hilly  parts,  and  the  level 
surface  produces  good  crops  of  corn  and  tobacco.  In  the 
northern  borders  of  the  county,  on  the  Rolling  Fork  of 
Salt  river,  is  Muldrough's  Hill,  a  noted  eminence.  Hod- 
genville,  near  wliich  Lincoln  was  born,  is  a  pleasantly  situ- 
ated town  on  Nolin  creek,  and  a  place  of  considerable  busi- 
ness. About  a  mile  above  this  town,  on  the  creek,  is  a 
mound,  or  knoll,  thirty  feet  above  the  banks  of  the  stream, 
containing  two  acres  of  level  ground,  at  the  top  of  which 

15 


16  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

there  is  now  a  house.  Some  of  the  early  pioneers  en- 
camped on  this  knoll;  and  but  a  short  distance  from  it 
a  fort  was  erected  by  Philip  Phillips,  an  emigrant  from 
Pennsylvania,  about  1780  or  1781,  near  the  time  Mr. 
Lincoln's  ancestor  arrived  from  Mrginia.  John  Larne 
came  from  the  latter  state,  mth  a  company  of  emigrants, 
and  settled  at  Phillip's  Fort.  Robert  Hodgen,  Larne's 
brother-in-law,  purchased  and  occupied  the  land  on  which 
Hodgenville  is  built. 

It  is  needless  to  rehearse  the  kind  of  life  in  which  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  was  here  trained.  The  picture  is  similar  in 
all  such  settlements.  In  his  case,  there  was  indeed  the 
advantage  of  a  generation  or  two  of  progress,  since  his 
grandfather  had  hazarded  and  lost  his  life  in  the  then 
slightly  broken  wilderness.  The  State  now  numbered 
some  400,000  inhabitants,  and  had  all  the  benefits  of  an 
efficient  local  administration,  the  want  of  which  had  greatly 
increased  the  dangers  and  difficulties  of  the  first  settlers. 

The  period  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  Kentucky  life  ex- 
tends through  a  little  more  than  seven  years,  terminating 
with  the  autumn  of  1816.  If  it  be  true  as  a  rule,  as  Horace 
Mann  maintained,  that  the  experiences  and  instructions  of 
the  first  seven  years  of  every  person's  existence  do  more 
to  mold  and  determine  his  general  character  than  all  sub- 
sequent training,  then  must  we  regard  Mr.  Lincoln  as  a 
Kentuckian,  by  his  early  impressions  and  discipline,  no 
less  than  by  birth. 

In  those  days  there  were  no  common  schools  in  that 
country.  The  principal  reliance  for  acquiring  the  rudi- 
ments of  learning  was  the  same  as  that  to  which  the  peasant 
poet  of  Ayrshire  was  indebted.  Education  was  by  no 
means  disregarded,  nor  did  young  Lincoln,  poor  as  were 
his  opportunities,  grow  up  an  illiterate  boy,  as  some  have 
supposed.     Competent  teachers  were  accustomed  to  offer 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  17 

themselves,  then,  as  in  later  years,  M'ho  opened  private 
schools  for  a  neighborhood,  being  supported  by  tuition  fees 
or  subscription.  During  his  boyhood  days  in  Kentucky, 
Abrbham  Lincoln  attended,  at  different  times,  at  least  two 
schools  of  this  description,  of  wliich  he  has  clear  recollec- 
tions. One  of  these  was  kept  by  Zachariah  Riney,  a 
Roman  Catholic,  whose  peculiarities  have  not  been  wholly 
effaced  from  the  memory  of  his  since  so  distinguished 
pupil.  Another  teacher,  on  whose  instructions  the  boy 
afterward  attended,  wliile  living  in  Kentucky,  was  named 
Caleb  Hazel.  His  was  also  a  neighborhood  school,  sus- 
tained by  private  patronage. 

With  the  aid  of  these  two  teachers,  and  with  such  firrther 
assistance  as  he  received  at  home,  there  is  no  doubt  that  he 
was  able  to  read  well,  though  without  having  made  any 
great  literary  progress,  at  the  age  of  seven.  That  he  was 
not  a  dull  or  inapt  scholar,  is  manifest  from  his  subsequent 
attainments.  With  the  allurements  of  the  rifle  and  the 
wild  game  which  then  abounded  in  the  country,  however, 
and  with  the  meagre  advantages  he  had,  in  regard  to 
books,  it  is  certain  that  his  perceptive  faculties,  and  his 
muscular  power,  were  much  more  fully  developed  by 
exercise  than  his  scholastic  talents. 

While  he  lived  in  Kentucky,  he  never  saw  even  the  ex- 
terior of  what  was  properly  a  church  edifice.  The  religious 
services  he  attended  were  held  either  at  a  private  dwelling, 
or  in  some  log  school-house,  or  in  the  open  grove. 

Unsatisfactory  results  of  these  many  years'  toil  on  the 
lands  along  Nolin  Creek,  or  a  restless  spirit  of  adventure 
and  fondness  for  more  genuine  pioneer  excitements  than 
this  region  continued  to  afford,  led  Thomas  Lincoln,  now 
verging  upon  the  age  of  forty,  and  his  son  beginning  to  be 
of  essential  service  in  manual  labor,  to  seek  a  new  place  of 
abode,  far  to  the  west  and  north,  beyond  the  Ohio. 


18  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 

Early  in  the  autumn  of  1816,  an  immediate  departure 
for  the  new  wilds  of  Indiana  Territory  was  determined  on 
by  Thomas  Lincoln.  It  was  no  very  imposing  sight,  cer- 
tainly, as  the  little  family,  bidding  the  old  Kentucky  home 
adieu,  moved  forward  upon  their  long  and  mnding  pioneer 
march.  Many  sad  thoughts  there  undoubtedly  were  in 
that  small  group,  and  perhaps  some  forebodings,  also,  as 
their  former  place,  gradually  receding,  at  length  disap- 
peared. But  these  emotions  must  soon  have  been  lost 
in  the  excitements  of  their  jom-ney. 

It  was  no  novel  picture  which  they  presented,  for  that 
period,  as  they  advanced  on  their  lonely  way,  for  the  days 
required  to  bring  them  to  the  place  whence  they  were  to 
cross  the  Oliio.  The  plain  wagon  with  its  simple  cover- 
ing as  a  shelter  for  its  lading  of  household  utensils,  articles 
of  food,  and  "varieties,"  was  drawn  by  a,  not  too-spirited 
or  over-fed  horse,  in  a  harness  probably  compounded  of 
leather  and  hempen  cords  of  an  uncertain  age.  In  the 
forward  part  of  this  conveyance,  sat  the  emigrant  wife  and 
her  daughter,  nine  years  old,  while  the  father  and  his  son, 
now  past  seven,  walking  in  the  rear,  took  care  that  the  in- 
dispensable cow  kept  pace  to  the  music  of  the  jolting  wheels. 
Underneath  the  wagon,  or  scouting  at  pleasure  through 
the  surrounding  woods,  was  of  course  a  large  dog,  constant 
to  the  fortunes  of  his  master's  family,  and  ready  for  any 
fate  to  which  their  migrations  might  lead  him.  Arriving 
at  the  appointed  landing  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  it  only 
remained  to  embark  the  little  caravan  upon  a  flatboat,  and 
to  cross  the  stream,  now  swelled  to  great  proportions  by 
the  autumn  rains.  Finally,  after  reaching  the  Indiana 
side,  the  adventurers  landed  at  or  near  the  mouth  of  Ander- 
son's Creek,  now  the  boundary  line  between  the  counties 
of  Perry  and  Spencer,  about  one  hundred  and  forty  miles 
below  Louisville,  by  river,  and  sixty  above  Evansville. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


19 


In  a  direct  line  across  the  country  from  their  former  resi- 
dence, the  distance  is,  perhaps,  hardly  one  hundred  miles. 

The  place  at  which  Mr.  Lincoln  settled,  at  the  end  of 
this  journey,  is  some  distance  back  from  the  Oliio  river, 
near  the  present  town  of  Gentryville.  Under  the  earliest 
organization,  this  was  in  Perry  county,  of  which  Troy  was 
the  county-seat.  Two  years  later,  Spencer  county  was 
formed,  embracing  all  that  part  of  Perry  west  of  Anderson's 
Creek,  and  including  the  place  at  which  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
located. 

Here  his  emigrant  wagon  paused,  and  aided  by  the  busy 
hands  of  his  son,  a  log  cabin  was  speedily  built,  which  was 
to  be  their  home  through  many  coming  years.  The  par- 
ticular site  of  his  dwelling  was  doubtless  determined,  as 
usual,  by  the  discovery  of  a  living  spring  of  water,  after 
fixing  on  his  selection  for  a  farm.  This  completed,  and  a 
shelter  provided  for  their  stock,  the  next  business  was  to 
clear  up  a  space  in  the  forest  wliich  should  produce  a  crop 
of  grain  for  their  sustenance  the  next  season.  Hard  work 
had  begun  in  good  earnest  for  the  young  Kentuckian.  He 
was  to  learn  the  realities  of  genuine  pioneer  life,  such  as  he 
had  before  but  imperfectly  understood,  unless  by  tradition 
and  the  evening  tales  of  his  father. 

Indiana,  at  this  date,  was  still  a  Territory,  having  been 
originally  united  under  the  same  government  with  Illinois 
after  the  admissions  of  Ohio  as  a  State, "  the  first-born  of  the 
the  great  Northwest,"  in  1802.  A  separate  territorial 
organization  was  made  from  each  in  1809.  A  few  months 
before  the  arrival  of  Thomas  Lincoln,  in  June,  1816,  pur- 
suant to  a  Congressional  "enabling  act,"  a  Convention  had 
been  held  which  adopted  a  State  Constitution,  preparatory 
to  admission  into  the  union.  Under  this  Constituion,  a 
little  later,  in  December,  1816,  Indiana  became,  by  act  of 
Congress,  one  of  the  United  States. 


20 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


The  population  of  Indiana  was  now  about  65,000,  dis- 
tributed chiefly  south  of  a  straight  Une  drawn  from  Vin- 
cennes,  on  the  Wabash,  to  Lawrenceburg,  on  the  Ohio. 
Vincennes  was  long  the  territorial  capital,  and  with  the 
surrounding  country,  had  been  occupied  by  French  emi- 
grants, many  years  before  the  Revolution.  In  1800,  the 
whole  number  of  residents  in  these  colonies  was  less  than 
5,000.  From  1800  to  1810,  there  had  been  a  large  increase, 
mostly  by  emigrations  to  Southern  Indiana  from  Kentucky, 
swelling  the  population  to  24,520,  at  the  latter  date.  In 
1811  had  occurred  serious  difficulties  with  the  Indians, 
terminating  in  the  decisive  victory  over  them  at  Tippecanoe. 
So  general  had  become  the  settlements,  eastward  from 
Vincennes  and  up  the  Ohio  river,  that  the  capital  was 
removed  far  eastward  to  Corydon,  in  1813,  as  a  central 
location. 

The  next  thirteen  years  Abraham  Lincoln  spent  here, 
in  Southern  Indiana,  near  the  Ohio,  nearly  midway  be- 
tween Louisville  and  Evansville.  He  was  now  old  enough 
to  begin  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  farm  labors  of  his 
father,  and  he  manfully  performed  liis  share  of  hard  work. 
He  learned  to  use  the  ax  and  to  hold  the  plow.  He 
became  inured  to  all  the  duties  of  seedtime  and  harvest. 
On  many  a  day,  during  every  one  of  those  thirteen  years, 
this  Kentucky  boy  might  have  been  seen  with  a  long  "gad" 
in  liis  hand,  driving  his  father's  team  in  the  field,  or  from 
the  woods,  with  a  heavy  draught,  or  on  the  rough  path  to 
the  mill,  the  store,  or  the  river  landing.  He  was  specially 
an  adept  at  felling  trees,  and  acquired  a  mucsular  strength 
in  which  he  was  equaled  by  few  or  none  of  those  about 
him.  In  the  sports  of  hunting  and  fishing,  he  was  less 
skilled. 

Here,  as  in  Kentucky,  he  attended  private  schools,  and  in 
other  ways  increased  his  little  stock  of  learning,  aided  by 


Life  op  Abraham  Lincoln.  21 

what  he  had  already  acquired.  The  same  want  of  system- 
atic public  instruction,  and  the  same  mode  of  remedying 
this  lack,  prevailed  in  Indiana,  as  in  his  former  home.  One 
of  his  teachers  was  named  Andrew  Crawford,  to  whom  he 
used  to  be  occasionally  indebted  for  the  loan  of  books,  to 
read  at  such  leisure  hours  as  he  could  command.  His  last 
teacher  was  Azel  W.  Dorsey,  who  had  the  satisfaction,  in 
later  years,  of  taking  his  former  scholar  by  the  hand,  re- 
joicing to  recognize  the  once  obscure  boy  as  one  of  the 
foremost  leaders  of  the  people. 

That  we  may  estimate  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  true  character, 
as  chiefly  a  self-educated  man,  it  should  be  stated  that,  sum- 
ming up  all  the  days  of  Us  actual  attendance  upon  school 
instruction,  the  amount  would  hardly  exceed  one  year. 
The  rest  he  has  accomplished  for  himself  in  his  own  way. 
As  a  youth  he  read  with  avidity  such  instructive  works  as 
he  could  obtain,  and  in  winter  evenings,  by  the  mere  light 
of  the  blazing  fire-place,  when  no  better  resource  was  at 
hand. 

An  incident  having  its  appropriate  connection  here,  and 
illustrating  several  traits  of  the  man,  as  already  developed, 
in  early  boyhood,  is  vouched  for  by  a  citizen  of  Evansville, 
who  knew  liim  in  the  days  referred  to.  In  liis  eagerness  to 
acquire  knowledge,  young  Lincoln  had  borrowed  of  Mr. 
Crawford  a  copy  of  Weems'  life  of  Washington — the  only 
one  known  to  be  in  the  neighborhood.  Before  he  had  fin- 
ished reading  the  book,  it  had  been  left,  by  a  not  unnatural 
oversight  in  a  window.  Meantime,  a  rain  storm  came  on, 
and  the  book,  was  so  thoroughly  wet  as  to  make  it  nearly 
worthless.  The  mishap  caused  Mm  much  pain;  but  he 
went,  in  all  honesty,  to  Crawford  with  the  ruined  book 
explained  the  calamity  that  had  happened  through  his 
neglect,  and  offered,  not  having  sufficient  money,  to 
"  work  out"  the  value  of  the  book. 


22  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

"  Well,  Abe, "  said  Crawford,  "as  it's  you  I  won't  be  hard 
on  you.  Come  over  and  pull  fodder  for  me  for  two  days 
and  we  will  call  our  accounts  even. " 

The  offer  was  accepted  and  the  engagement  literally 
fulfilled.  As  a  boy,  no  less  than  since,  Abraham  Lincoln 
had  an  honorable  conscientiousness,  integrity,  industry, 
and  an  ardent  love  of  knowledge. 

The  town  on  the  Ohio  river,  nearest  his  home,  was  Troy, 
county-seat  of  Perry  county  down  to  the  date  of  its  division. 
This  place,  at  the  mouth  of  Anderson's  Creek,  had  been  set- 
tled as  early  as  1811,  and  was  a  place  of  some  consequence, 
both  for  its  river  trade  and  as  the  county-seat.  After  this 
latter  advantage  was  lost,  by  the  formation  of  a  new  county  in 
1818,  Troy  dwindled  away,  and  is  now  a  place  of  only  about 
six  hundred  inhabitants.  Rockport,  nearly  twenty  miles 
southwest  of  Gentryville,  became  the  county-seat  of  Spen- 
cer county,  and  thenceforward  a  point  of  interest  to  the  new 
settlers.  It  is  situated  on  a  high  bluff  of  the  Ohio  river, 
and  receives  its  name  from  "Lady  Washington's  Rock," 
a  picturesque  hanging-rock  at  that  place.  At  these  two 
points  young  Lincoln  gained  some  knowledge  of  the  new 
world  of  riverlife  and  business,  in  addition  to  his  farm  ex- 
perience, and  to  his  forest  sports  with  rod  and  rifle.  For 
several  months  he  is  said  to  have  been  ferryman  at  Ander- 
son's Creek  Ferry. 

It  was  during  one  of  the  later  of  these  thirteen  years,  that 
Abraham,  at  nineteen,  was  permitted  to  gratify  his  eager 
longing  to  see  more  of  the  world,  and  to  try  the  charms  of 
an  excursion  on  the  Ohio.  He  had  inherited  much  of  the 
adventurous  and  stirring  disposition  of  his  Virginian  grand- 
father, and  was  delighted  with  the  prospect  of  a  visit  to 
New  Orleans,  then  the  splendid  city  of  Western  dreams. 
He  performed  this  journey  on  a  common  flatboat,  doing 
service  as  one  of  the  hands  on  that  long  yet  most  exhilarat- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  23 

ing  trip.  We  have  no  particulars  of  this  his  sole  excursion 
as  a  flatboatman  during  his  Indiana  days,  yet  to  his  own 
mind  it  probably  long  afforded  many  not  unpleasing  recol- 
lections. He  was  undoubtedly  the  life  of  the  little  com- 
pany, delighting  them  with  his  humorous  sallies  no  less 
than  with  his  muscular  superiority,  and  with  his  hilarious 
activity  and  intuitive  tact  in  all  that  immediately  concerned 
their  voyage. 

If  there  had  been  any  forebodings  at  the  time  of  depar- 
ture from  their  first  home  on  Nolin  Creek,  these  were  to  be 
ere  long  realized  by  the  Indiana  emigrants.  Scarcely  two 
years  had  passed,  in  this  changed  climate,  and  in  these 
rougher  forest  experiences,  before  the  mother  of  young 
Abraham — perhaps  too  gentle  to  encounter  the  new  trials 
added  to  those  she  had  before  partially  surmounted,  and  to 
endure  the  malarious  influences  in  which  this  wild  country 
abounded — was  called  to  a  last  separation  from  those  she 
had  so  tenderly  loved.  She  died  in  1818,  leaving  as  her 
sole  surviving  children,  a  daughter  less  than  twelve  years 
old,  and  a  son  two  years  younger,  of  whose  future  dis- 
tinction, even  with  a  mother's  fondness,  she  probably  had 
but  an  indefinite  hope. 

A  year  or  two  later,  Thomas  Lincoln  contracted  a  second 
marriage  with  Mrs.  Johnston,  a  widow  with  three  children, 
that  were  brought  up  with  those  of  Mr.  Lincohi.  Besides 
these  step-children,  there  were  no  additions  to  the  family 
as  before  euumerated, 


CHAPTER  II. 
First  Years  in  Illinois. — 1830-'34. 

The  early  French  settlements  of  Illinois,  at  Kaskaskia 
and  Cahokia,  on  the  Mississippi  river  just  below  St. 
Louis,  had  proved  as  little  successful  or  permanent  as 
those  of  Indiana  around  Vincennes.  The  territory  had 
come  into  the  possession  of  the  British  Government  just 
before  the  Revolution,  and  emigration  from  Virginia  had 
commenced  almost  simultaneously  to  that  quarter  and 
to  Kentucky. 

The  Southern  emigration  gave  character  to  the  earlier 
legislation  of  Indiana  and  Illinois  especially.  With  evi- 
dences of  a  lurking  attachment  to  the  peculiar  institution 
of  the  States  on  the  other  side  of  the  Ohio  river,  the  gen- 
eral tenor  of  public  sentiment  and  action  was  as  positive 
and  distinct  as  were  the  opinions  of  the  more  Northern 
multitudes  who  came  in  to  fill  up  these  new  common- 
wealths. And  yet,  the  views  of  slavery  prevalent  in 
southern  Indiana  and  Illinois  were  at  that  time  not  much 
diverse  from  those  which  were  entertained  in  the  com- 
munities from  which  these  settlers  had  come.  They  re- 
garded slavery  as  an  evil  to  be  rid  of;  and  to  make  sure 
of  this,  those  who  were  not  already  too  much  entangled 
with  it  left  in  large  numbers  for  a  region  which,  by  request 
of  Virginia  herself,  was  "forever"  protected  from  the 
inroads  of  this  moral  and  social  mischief. 

Indiana  had  more  than  100,000  people  concentrated 
in  the  south,  before  any  real  advance  had  been  made  in 
the  central  and  northern  parts.     Nearly  the  same  thing 

25 


26  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

was  true  of  Illinois.  The  territory  had  been  separately 
organized  in  the  same  year  with  the  birth  of  Abraham 
Lincoln — 1809.  The  next  year's  census  showed  its  en- 
tire white  population  to  be  only  11,  501. 

In  1820,  two  years  after  admission  into  the  Union, 
the  entire  population,  still  almost  entirely  confined  to 
the  same  region,  and  to  similar  localities  as  ten  years 
before,  amounted  only  to  55,211.  From  that  time  to 
1830,  there  was  some  extension  of  the  settlements  north- 
ward, toward  the  center  of  the  state,  and  up  the  Mississippi 
to  Galena,  where  the  mines  were  already  worked.  The 
rivers  along  which  the  principal  settlements  had  been 
made,  aside  from  the  great  boundary  rivers — the  Mississippi, 
the  Ohio  and  the  Wabash — were  the  Kaskaskia,  the  Em- 
barras,  the  Sangamon,  and  their  branches.  There  were 
a  few  settlements,  also,  in  the  Rock  River  country,  and 
in  the  vicinity  of  Peoria.  The  population,  thus  chiefly 
distributed,  had  now  (1830)  reached  157,445. 

The  brothers  of  Thomas  Lincoln  had  previously  re- 
moved to  a  more  northern  location  in  Indiana  than  that 
which  he  had  occupied.  Both  settled  in  the  Blue  river 
country — Mordecai  in  Hancock  county,  where  he  not  long 
after  died,  and  Josiah  in  Harrison  county. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  father  pushed  forward  to  the  central  part 
of  the  State.  A  more  beautiful  country  than  that  of  the 
Sangamon  valley  could  not  easily  have  been  anywhere 
discovered  by  an  explorer.  It  was  not  strange  that  the. 
report  of  such  lands,  if  he  heard  it  in  his  Southern  Indiana 
home,  should  have  attracted  even  so  far  one  who  was 
bred  to  pioneer  life  and  inherited  a  migratory  disposition. 
He  first  settled  on  the  Sangamon  "bottom,"  in  Macon 
coimty. 

As  you  approach  Decatur,  the  county-seat  of  Macon, 
from  the  souths  a  slightly  broken  country  is  reached  two 


Life  of  Abraham  Lixcoln.  27 

or  three  miles  from  that  place,  and  presently  the  North 
Fork  of  the  Sangamon,  over  which  you  pass,  a  mile  from 
the  town.  This  stream  flows  westwardly,  uniting  with  the 
South  Fork,  near  Jamestown,  ten  miles  from  Springfield. 
Following  down  this  North  Fork  for  a  distance  of  about 
ten  miles  from  Decatur,  you  come  to  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  the  first  residence  of  Abraham  Lincoln  (with  his 
father's  family),  in  Ilhnois. 

Here,  for  the  first  seasonsof  his  abode  in  the  new  State  he 
continued  to  assist  the  father  in  Ms  farm-work.  One  of  the 
first  duties  was  to  fence  in  a  field  on  the  rich  bottom-lands, 
which  had  been  selected  for  cultivation.  For  this  purpose, 
with  the  help  of  one  laborer,  it  is  said,  Abraham  Lincoln 
split  three  thousand  rails — the  crowning  work  of  a  long 
laborious  period  of  his  life.  The  man  who  aided  him  in 
this  exploit,  named  John  Hanks,  a  distant  relative  of  his 
mother,  bears  earnest  testimony  to  the  strength  and  skill 
with  which  the  maul  and  the  wedge  were  employed  on  this 
occasion. 

For  some  unexplained  reason,  the  family  did  not  remain 
on  this  place  but  a  single  year.  Abraham  was  now  of  age, 
and  when,  in  the  spring  of  1831,  liis  father  set  out  for  Coles 
county,  sixty  or  seventy  miles  to  the  eastward,  on  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Kaskaskia  and  Embarras,  a  separation 
took  place,  the  son,  for  the  first  time,  assuming  his  inde- 
pendence, and  commencing  life  on  his  own  account.  The 
scene  of  these  labors  he  never  again  visited.  His  father 
was  soon  after  comfortably  settled  in  the  place  to  which  he 
had  turned  his  course,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  ad- 
venturous days  there,  arriving  at  a  good  old  age.  He  died 
in  Coles  county,  on  the  17th  day  of  January,  1851,  being  in 
his  seventy-third  year.  The  farm  on  the  Sangamon  sub- 
sequeptly  came  into  the  possession  of  a  Mr.  Whitley,  who 
erected  a  mill  in  the  vicinity. 


28  Life   of  Abraham   Lincoln. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1830,  or  in  1831,  a  man.came  to  that 
part  of  Macon  county  where  young  Lincoln  was  living,  in 
pursuit  of  hands  to  aid  him  in  a  flatboat  voyage  down  the 
Mississippi.  The  fact  was  known  that  the  youth  had  once 
made  such  a  trip,  and  his  services  were  sought  for  the  occa- 
sion. As  one  who  had  his  own  subsistence  to  earn,  with 
no  capital  but  his  hands,  and  with  no  immediate  oppor- 
tunities for  commencing  professional  study,  if  his  thoughts 
had  as  yet  been  turned  in  that  direction,  he  accepted  the 
proposition  made  him.  Perhaps  there  was  something  of 
his  inherited  and  acquired  fondness  for  existing  adventure, 
impelling  him  to  this  decision.  With  him,  were  also  em- 
ployed, his  former  fellow-laborer,  John  Hanks,  and  a  son 
of  his  step-mother,  named  John  Johnston.  In  the  spring 
of  1831  Lincoln  set  out  to  fulfill  his  engagement.  The 
flood  had  so  swollen  the  streams  that  the  Sangamon  comitry 
was  a  vast  sea  before  him.  His  first  entrance  into  that 
country  was  over  these  wide-spread  waters,  in  a  canoe.  The 
time  had  come  to  join  his  employer  on  his  journey  to  New 
Orleans,  but  the  latter  had  been  disappointed  by  another 
person  on  whom  he  relied  to  furnish  him  a  boat,  on  the 
Illinois  river.  Accordingly,  all  hands  set  to  work,  and 
themselves  built  a  boat  on  that  river  for  their  purposes. 
This  done,  they  set  out  on  their  long  trip,  making  a  success- 
ful voyage  to  New  Orleans  and  back.  It  is  reported  by 
his  friends,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  referred  with  much  pleasant 
humor  to  this  early  experience,  so  relating  some  of  its  inci- 
dents as  to  afford  abundant  amusement  to  his  auditors. 
In  truth,  he  was  a  youth  who  could  adapt  himself  to  this 
or  any  other  honest  Vv'ork  which  liis  circumstances  required 
of  him,  and  with  a  cheerfulness  and  alacrity — a  certain 
practical  humor — rarely  equaled.  He  could  turn  off  the 
hardest  labor  as  a  mere  pastime ;  and  his  manly  presence,  to 
other  laborers,  was  a  constant  inspiration  and  a  charm  to 
Ughten  their  burdens. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  29 

It  was  midsummer  when  the  flatboatman  returned  from 
this  his  second  and  last  trip  in  that  capacity.  The  man 
who  had  commanded  this  little  expedition  now  undertook 
to  establish  himself  in  business  at  New  Salem,  twenty 
miles  below  Springfield,  in  Menard  county — a  place  of 
more  relative  consequence  than  now — two  miles  from 
Petersburg,  the  county-seat.  He  had  found  young  Lincoln 
a  person  of  such  sort  that  he  was  anxious  to  secure  his 
services  in  the  new  enterprise  he  was  about  to  embark  in. 
He  opened  a  store  at  New  Salem,  and  also  had  a  flour  mill. 
For  want  of  other  immediate  employment,  and  in  the  same 
spirit  which  had  heretofore  actuated  him,  Abraham  Lin- 
coln now  entered  upon  the  duties  of  a  clerk,  having  an  eye 
to  both  branches  of  the  business  carried  on  by  his  employer. 
This  connection  continued  for  nearly  a  year,  all  the  duties 
of  his  position  being  faithfully  performed. 

It  was  during  this  year  that  he  was  appointed  Postmaster 
at  New  Salem — not  from  political  affinity  with  the  ad- 
ministration of  Jackson,  to  which  he  was,  in  fact,  opposed, 
but  because  he  was  thought  better  fitted  for  the  place  than 
any  of  his  neighbors.  He  discharged  his  duties  well;  and 
instead  of  even  temporarily  using  any  of  the  public  money 
to  supply  his  then  pressing  wants,  he  carefully  laid  up 
whatever  belonged  to  the  Government,  from  day  to  day, 
and  at  the  final  settlement  he  had  a  bag  of  coin,  containing 
the  proper  amount,  ready  to  be  paid  over. 

While  Abraham  Lincoln  was  quietly  performing  his 
duties  in  the  pioneer  "  store, "  in  Menard  county,  reports 
were  received  of  an  alarming  Indian  invasion,  on  the 
western  border  of  the  State.  In  the  spring  of  1S31,  the 
noted  Black-Hawk,  an  old  chief  of  the  Sac  tribe  of  Indians, 
repudiating  the  treaty  by  the  terms  of  which  they  had  been 
removed  beyond  the  Father  of  Waters,  re-crossed  the  river 
with  his  women  and  children,  and  three  hundred  warriors 


— i 


30  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

of  the  Sacs,  together  with  allies  from  the  Kickapoo  and 
Pottawatomie  nations.  His  object  was  again  to  take  pos- 
session of  his  old  hunting-grounds,  and  to  establish  him- 
self where  the  principal  village  of  liis  nation  before  had 
been,   in   the   Rock-river   country. 

Whether  or  not  either  of  these  commanders  was 
chargeable  with  blame,  tliis  retreat  of  Black  Hawk  only 
prolonged  the  difficulties  impending,  and  prepared  the 
way  for  a  more  formidable  and  eventful  campaign  the 
next  season.  Gen.  Gaines,  however,  had  taken  measures 
to  preclude  any  such  possibility,  so  far  as  the  deliberate 
engagements  of  the  uneasy  chief  could  avail  for  that 
purpose.  Intimidated  by  the  threats  of  Gaines  to  cross 
the  river,  and  to  prosecute  the  war  on  that  ground.  Black 
Hawk  sued  for  peace.  A  treaty  was  entered  into,  by 
which  he  agreed  that  he  and  his  tribe  should  ever  after 
remain  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  unless  by  permission 
of  the  State  Governor  or  President. 

In  express  violation,  however,  of  this  second  deliberate 
engagement.  Black  Hawk  and  his  followers  began,  early  in 
the  spring  of  1832,  as  we  have  seen,  to  make  preparations 
for  another  invasion.  Tliis  was  in  the  early  part  of  April, 
1832.  Black  Hawk,  after  he  had  gone  some  distance  up 
this  latter  river,  was  overtaken  by  a  messenger  from 
Gen.  Atkinson,  who  had  command  of  the  troops  on  Rock 
Island,  and  ordered  to  return  beyond  the  Mississippi. 
This  was  defiantly  refused. 

Gov.  Reynolds  again  issued  a  call  for  volunteers  to 
protect  the  settlers  from  tliis  invasion.  A  company  was 
promptly  raised  in  Menard  county,  in  the  formation  of 
which  Abraham  Lincoln  was  one  of  the  most  active. 
From  New  Salem,  Clary's  Grove,  and  elsewhere  in  the 
vicinity,  an  efficient  force  was  gathered,  and  in  making 
their  organization,  Lincoln  was  elected  Captain.     This 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  31 

was  the  first  official  honor  he  had  ever  received  by  the 
suffrages  of  his  fellows,  and  one  that  afforded  particular 
satisfaction  to  Us  not  unaspiring,  though  modest,  spirit, 
as  he,  long  afterward,  frankly  admitted. 

Their  first  march  was  to  the  rendezvous  appointed  by 
Gov.  Reynolds,  at  Beardstown,  one  of  the  earlier  settle- 
ments on  the  Illinois  river,  forty  miles  west  of  New  Salem. 
Here  eighteen  hundred  men  were  speedily  assembled, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Governor.  The  forces  were- 
organized  into  four  regiments,  with  an  additional  spy 
battalion.  Gen.  Samuel  Whiteside,  of  the  State  militia, 
who  had  commanded  the  spy  battalion  in  the  campaign 
of  the  previous  year,  was  now  entrusted  with  the  command 
of  the  whole  brigade.  Gen.  James  D.  Henry  was  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  spy  battalion. 

This  little  army,  more  imposing  than  that  of  the  pre- 
ceding year,  set  out  from  Beardstown  on  the  27th  of  April, 
for  the  scene  of  action.  Three  or  four  days'  hard  marching 
across  the  country  brought  the  volunteers  to  Oquawka, 
on  the  Mississippi,  from  whence  they  proceeded,  without 
delay,  northward  to  the  mouth  of  Rock  river.  Here  it 
was  arranged  with  Gen.  Atkinson,  commander  of  the 
regulars,  that  the  volunteer  force  should  march  up  the 
latter  stream  a  distance  of  about  fifty  miles,  to  Prophets- 
town,  where  they  were  to  encamp,  awaiting  the  arrival 
of  the  regulars  with  provisions,  by  the  river.  Gen. 
WTiiteside,  however,  instead  of  following  out  this  plan, 
set  fire  to  the  Prophet's  village  on  arriving,  and  pushed 
forward  toward  Dixon's  Ferry,  forty  miles  further  up 
the  river. 

These  incessant  marches  must  have  severely  taxed  the 
endurance  of  many  of  the  inexperienced  soldiers,  but  to 
Capt.  Lincoln,  reared  as  he  had  been,  they  rather  height- 
ened the  exliilaration  which  attended  these  adventures 


32  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

from  the  start.  The  prospect  of  speedily  overtaking  and 
encountering  the  enemy  in  battle,  and  the  hope  of  winning, 
in  the  fight,  some  special  honors  for  the  little  contingent 
under  his  command,  relieved  the  sense  of  fatigue. 

The  great  battle  which  Capt.  Lincoln  and  his  fellow- 
volunteers  had  come  so  far  to  participate  in,  seemed  now 
on  the  point  of  becoming  a  reality.  Notwithstanding  the 
premature  advance  of  AVhiteside  from  Prophetstown  had 
left  them  without  the  necessary  supplies,  and  subjected 
them  to  the  privations  so  well  known  to  experienced 
soldiers,  yet  seldom  encountered  so  early  in  a  campaign, 
they  made  up  for  .the  absence  of  their  regular  provisions 
as  best  they  might,  and  were  ready,  with  the  dawn,  for 
the  day's  undertaking.  But  their  enemy  did  not  await 
their  coming.  Arrived  at  the  scene  of  the  skirmish  of  the 
day  before,  they  found  not  a  straggler  of  all  the  savage 
forces.  They  had  partly  gone  farther  up  the  river,  and 
partly  dispersed,  to  commit  depredations  in  the  surround- 
ing country.  One  party  of  them  came  suddenly  upon  a 
settlement  near  Ottawa,  and  massacred  fifteen  persons, 
carrying  two  young  women  into  captivity.  This  circum- 
stance, alone,  is  sufficient  to  show  how  utterly  unfounded 
was  the  pretense  of  some  that  Black  Hawk  had  no  hostile 
purpose,  in  this  repudiation  of  his  treaty  engagements, 
and  to  remove  any  ground  for  the  mistaken  sympathy 
which  may  have  been  expended  upon  him. 

This  sudden  disbanding  without  a  battle,  and  with  no 
results  accomplished,  was  a  disappointment  to  the  young 
captain  from  Menard  county.  Gov.  Re^molds  had  pre- 
viously issued  a  call  for  two  thousand  new  volunteers,  to 
assemble  at  Beardstown  and  Hennepin.  In  accordance 
with  the  wishes  of  Lincoln  and  others,  who  were  still 
ready  to  bear  their  share  of  the  campaign  to  its  close,  the 
Governor  also  asked  for  the  formation  of  a  volunteer  regi- 


I 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  33 

ment  from  tliose  just  discharged.  Lincoln  promptly 
enrolled  himself  as  a  private,  as  did  also  General  AVhiteside. 

Before  the  arrival  of  the  other  levies,  a  skirmisliing 
fight  with  the  Lidians  was  had  at  Burr  Oak  Grove,  on 
the  18th  of  June,  in  which  the  enemy  was  defeated,  with 
considerable  loss,  and  on  the  side  of  the  volunteers,  two 
killed  and  one  wounded. 

The  new  forces,  under  command  of  General  Atkinson, 
of  the  regular  army,  were  at  length  put  in  motion,  de- 
tachments being  sent  out  in  different  directions.  A  severe 
fight-  was  had  at  Kellogg's  Grove,  in  the  midst  of  the 
Indian  country,  on  the  25th  of  June,  resulting  in  the 
retreat  of  the  Indians,  with  much  loss.  Five  whites  were 
killed,  and  three  wounded.  A  detachment  under  General 
Alexander  was  stationed  in  a  position  to  intercept  the 
Indians,  should  they  attempt  to  re-cross  the  Mississippi. 

In  response  to  the  representations  of  Gov.  Reynolds,  to 
whom  the  settlers  applied  for  protection,  Gen.  Gaines,  com- 
mander of  the  United  States  forces  in  that  quarter,  took 
prompt  and  decisive  measures  to  expel  these  invaders 
from  the  state.  With  a  few  companies  of  regular  soldiers. 
Gen.  Gaines  at  once  took  up  his  position  at  Rock  Island, 
and  at  his  call,  several  hundred  volunteers,  assembled 
from  the  northern  and  central  parts  of  the  state,  upon 
the  proclamation  of  Gov.  Reynolds,  joined  him  a  month 
later.  His  little  army  distributed  into  two  regiments, 
an  additional  battalion,  and  a  spy  battalion,  was  the  most 
formidable  military  force  yet  seen  in  the  new  State.  The 
expected  battle  did  not  take  place,  the  Indians  having 
suddenly  and  stealthily  retired  again,  in  their  canoes, 
across    the  river. 

Nearly  two  months  had  now  passed  since  the  opening  of 
the  campaign,  and  its  purpose  seemed  as  remote  from 
accomplishment  as  ever.    The  new  volunteers  had  many 


34  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

of  them  become  discontented,  like  the  former  ones.  Their 
number  had  in  fact  become  reduced  one-half.  The  weari- 
some marches,  the  delays,  the  privations  and  exposures, 
had  proved  to  them  that  this  service  was  no  pastime,  and 
that  its  romance  was  not  what  it  seemed  in  the  distance. 
They  sickened  of  such  service,  and  were  glad  to  escape 
from  its  restraints.  Not  so,  however,  with  Lincoln,  who 
had  found  in  reality  the  kind  of  exciting  adventure  which 
his  spirit  craved.  While  others  murmured,  and  took  their 
departure,  he  remained  true  and  persistent,  no  less  eager 
for  the  fray,  or  ambitious  to  play  a  genuine  soldier's  part, 
than  at  the  beginning.  Hardship  was  not  new  to  him, 
and  he  had  a  physical  energy  and  endurance  that  would  not 
be  wearied  into  untimely  discouragement. 

It  was  not  destined,  however,  that  he  should  be  actively 
engaged  in  any  battle  more  serious  than  those  encounters 
already  mentioned. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  as  yet  a  youth  of  but  twenty-three,  faith- 
fully discharged  his  duty  to  his  country,  as  a  soldier,  per- 
severing amid  peculiar  hardships,  and  against  the  influences 
of  older  men  around  him,  during  the  three  months'  service 
of  this  his  first  and  last  military  campaign. 

Sarcastically  conamenting  on  the  efforts  of  General  Cass' 
biographers  to  render  liim  conspicuous  as  a  military  hero, 
Mr.  Lincoln,  in  a  Congressional  speech,  delivered  during  the 
canvass  of  1848,  made  a  humorous  and  characteristic  refer- 
ence to  his  own  experience  as  a  soldier.  We  give  his 
language  on  tliis  occasion,  as  a  suitable  pendent  to  our 
sketch  of  this  period  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  youth. 

"  By  the  way,  Mr.  Speaker,  did  you  know  I  am  a  military 
hero?  Yes,  sir,  in  the  days  of  the  Black  Hawk  war,  I 
fought,  bled,  and  came  away.  Speaking  of  General  Cass' 
career  reminds  me  of  my  own.  I  was  not  at  Stillman's 
defeat,  but  I  was  about  as  near  it  as  Cass  to  Hull's  sur- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  35 

render;  and  like  him,  I  saw  the  place  very  soon  afterward. 
It  is  quite  certain  I  did  not  break  my  word,  for  I  had  none 
to  break;  but  I  bent  a  musket  pretty  badly  on  one  occa- 
sion. If  Cass  broke  his  sword,  the  idea  is,  he  broke  it  in 
desperation ;  I  bent  the  musket  by  accident.  If  General 
Cass  went  in  advance  of  me  in  picking  whortleberries,  I 
guess  I  surpassed  him  in  charges  upon  the  wild  onions.  If 
he  saw  any  live,  fighting  Indians,  it  was  more  than  I  did, 
but  I  had  a  good  many  bloody  struggles  with  the  mos- 
quitoes; and  although  I  never  fainted  from  loss  of  blood, 
I  can  truly  say  I  was  often  very  hungry. 

"  Mr.  Speaker,  if  I  should  ever  conclude  to  doff  whatever 
our  Democratic  friends  may  suppose  there  is  of  black- 
cockade  Federalism  about  me,  and,  thereupon,  they  should 
take  me  up  as  their  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  I  pro- 
test they  shall  not  make  fun  of  me  as  they  have  of  General 
Cass,  by  attempting  to  write  me  into  a  military  hero. " 


CHAPTER  III. 
Eight  Years  in  the  Legisature  of  Illinois — 1834-'41. 

We  now  approach  the  period  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  transition 
to  the  more  natural  position  in  which,  as  a  professional  man 
and  a  statesman,  he  was  to  attain  that  success  and  emi- 
nence for  which  his  rare  endowments  fitted  him.  His  later 
experiences  had  shown  him  more  clearly  that  he  was  not 
to  be  a  mere  private  in  the  great  battle  of  life,  but  that  he 
had  certain  qualities  which  could  place  him  at  the  head  of 
a  brigade  or  of  a  column,  if  he  were  so  minded.  Nor  was  he 
indifferent  to  the  good  opinion  of  his  fellow-men.  The 
confessed  satisfaction  which  the  captaincy  of  a  company 
of  volunteers  had  given  him,  as  the  expressed  preference  of 
a  hundred  or  two  of  associates  for  him  above  all  others, 
as  a  leader,  showed  that,  however  distrustful  as  yet  of  his 
own  powers,  he  was  not  without  ambition,  or  unable  to 
appreciate  popular  honors. 

This  campaign  likewise,  besides  the  excitements  of 
varied  adventure  which  it  afforded,  so  much  to  his  natural 
inclination,  had  brought  him  in  contact  with  inspiring  in- 
fluences and  associations,  and  had  demonstrated,  and 
doubtless  improved,  his  powers  of  fixing  the  esteem  and 
admiration  of  those  around  him.  He  had  been,  as  is  told 
of  him,  a  wild  sort  of  a  boy  and  in  his  peculiar  way  he  had 
attached  his  associates  to  him  to  a  remarkable  degree. 
This  will  be  seen  from  a  circumstance  to  be  presently  re- 
lated. His  horizon  had  been  enlarged  and  his  dreams 
ennobled.     Meantime,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  that  he 

37 


38  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

had  come  home  from  the  Black-Hawk  war  with  no 
definite  business  to  resort  to,  and  still  under  a  necessity  of 
devoting  his  cbaef  and  immediate  energies  to  self-support. 
He  has,  then,  reached  a  new  epoch  of  his  youth,  at  this 
date,  and  entered  on  another  distinct  period  of  his  liistory. 
Proof  of  this  we  shall  find  in  the  fact  that  he  became,  on 
returning  home,  a  candidate  for  representative  in  the  State 
Legislature,  the  election  of  which  was  close  at  hand.  A 
youth  of  twenty-three,  and  not  at  all  generally  known 
through  the  county,  or  able,  in  the  brief  time  allowed,  to 
make  himself  so,  it  may  have  an  appearance  of  presumption 
for  liim  to  have  allowed  the  use  of  his  name  as  a  candidate 
He  was  not  elected,  certainly,  and  could  hardly  have 
thought  such  an  event  possible;  yet  the  noticeable  fact 
remains  that  he  received  so  wonderful  a  vote  in  his  own 
precinct,  where  he  was  best  if  not  almost  exclusively 
known,  as  may  also  be  said  to  have  made  his  fortune.  His 
precinct  (he  had  now  settled  in  Sangamon  county)  was 
strongly  for  Jackson,  while  Lincoln  had,  from  the  start, 
warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  Henry  Clay.  The  State 
election  occurred  in  August,  and  the  Presidential  election 
two  or  three  months  later,  the  same  season.  Political 
feeling  ran  liigh,  at  this,  the  second  election  (as  it  proved) 
of  Jackson.  Notwithstanding  tliis,  such  was  the  popu- 
larity wliich  young  Lincoln  had  brought  home  with  him 
from  the  war,  that  out  of  the  two  hundred  and  eight  y-four 
votes  cast  in  his  precinct,  two  hundred  and  seventy-seven 
— all  but  seven— were  cast  for  Mm.  Yet,  a  little  later  in  the 
same  canvass,  General  Jackson  received  a  majority  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty-five  for  the  Presidency,  from  the 
very  same  men,  over  Mr.  Clay,  whose  cause  Lincoln  was 
known  to  favor.  So  marked  an  indication  as  this  of  liis 
personal  power  to  draw  votes,  made  him  a  political  celeb- 
rity at  once.    In  future  elections  it  became  a  point  with 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  39 

aspirants  to  seek  to  combine  his  strength  in  their  favor,  by- 
placing  Lincoln's  name  on  their  ticket,  to  secure  his  bat- 
talion of  voters.  When  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature 
for  the  first  time,  two  years  later,  his  majority  ranged 
about  two  hmidred  votes  higher  than  the  rest  of  the  ticket 
on  which  he  ran. 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  political  life, 
almost  in  his  boyhood.  This  is  the  proper  place  to  pause 
and  review,  in  a  brief  way,  the  state  of  political  affairs  in 
Illinois,  at  the  time  of  his  first  appearance  upon  this 
public  arena.  We  shall  find  the  revolution  which  has  been 
wrought— Mr.  Lincoln,  though  for  long  years  in  an  appar- 
ently hopeless  minority  in  the  State,  having  been  always  a 
foremost  leader  on  the  side  opposed  to  the  Democracy — 
to  be  scarcely  less  remarkable  than  his  youthful  successes 
at  the  polls. 

At  the  date  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  arrival — when  just  of  age — 
in  the  State  of  Illinois,  General  Jackson  was  in  the  midst 
of  his  first  Presidential  term.  Since  1826  every  general 
election  in  that  State  had  resulted  decisively  in  favor  of 
his  friends.  In  August,  1830,  the  first  election  after  Lincoln 
became  a  resident  of  the  State,  and  before  he  was  a  qualified 
voter,  the  only  rival  candidates  for  Governor,  were  both 
of  the  same  strongly  predominant  party.  The  Legislature 
then  elected  had  a  large  majority  on  that  side.  In  1832, 
General  Jackson  received  the  electoral  vote  of  Illinois,  for 
the  second  time,  by  a  decisive  majority.  The  Legislature 
of  1834  was  so  strongly  Democratic  that  the  Whig  mem- 
bers did  not  have  any  candidates  of  their  own,  in  organiz- 
ing the  House,  but  chose  rather  to  exercise  the  little  power 
they  had  in  favor  of  such  Democratic  candidate  as  they 
preferred.  Against  such  odds,  as  we  shall  see,  the  oppo- 
nents of  that  party  struggled  long  and  in  vain.  Even  the 
great  pohtical  tornado  which  swept  over  so  large  a  portion 


40  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

of  the  Union  in  1840,  made  no  decisive  impression  upon 
Illinois.  In  spite  of  all  these  difficulties  and  discourage- 
ments, Mr.  Lincoln  adhered  steadily  to  his  faith,  never 
once  dreaming  of  seeking  profit  in  comphance,  or  in  a  com- 
promise of  his  honest  principles.  Henr)'-  Clay  was  his 
model  as  a  statesman,  and  always  continued  such,  while 
any  issues  were  left  to  contend  for,  of  the  celebrated 
American  system  of  the  great  Kentuckian. 

During  the  time  Mr.  Lincoln  was  pursuing  his  law  studies 
and  making  his  first  practical  appearance  with  political 
life,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  business  of  a  surveyor 
as  a  means  of  support.  The  mania  for  speculation  in 
Western  lands  and  lots  was  beginning  to  spread  over  the 
country  at  this  time;  and  while  our  young  student  of  law 
had  neither  means  nor  inclination  to  embark  in  any  such 
enterprise  for  himself,  it  was  the  means  of  bringing  him 
some  profitable  employment  with  the  chain  and  compass. 
From  the  earliest  grand  center  of  these  operations  in  lands 
and  town  lots,  Cliicago,  which  had  also  itself  furnished, 
even  then,  most  remarkable  examples  of  fortunes  easily 
made,  the  contagion  spread  everywhere  through  the  State. 
Towns  and  cities  without  number  were  laid  out  in  all 
directions,  and  innumerable  fortunes  were  made,  in  antici- 
pation, by  the  purchase  of  lots  in  all  sorts  of  imaginary 
cities,  during  the  four  or  five  years  preceding  the  memorable 
crisis  and  crash  of  1837.  It  was  during  the  year  previous 
to  that  consummation,  that  this  business  had  reached 
its  height  in  Illinois.  "With  the  revulsion,  came  also  a 
brief  period  of  adversity  to  the  successful  surveyor,  whose 
occupation  was  now  gone.  It  is  said  that  even  his  ser- 
veying  instruments  were  sold  under  the  hammer.  But 
this  change  only  served  to  establish  him  more  exclusively 
and  permanently  in  his  profession  of  the  law. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  first  election  to  the  Illinois  Legislature,  as 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  41 

has  been  stated,  was  in  1834.  His  associates  on  the  ticket 
were  Major  John  T  Stuart  (two  or  three  years  later  elected 
to  Congress),  John  Dawson  and  William  Carpenter.  All 
were  decided  Clay  men,  or,  as  the  party  in  that  State  was 
first  styled,  Democratic  Republicans.  About  this  time 
the  name  of  Whigs  had  begun  to  be  their  current  designa- 
tion. Lincoln  was  the  youngest  member  of  this  Legisla- 
ture, with  the  single  exception  of  Jesse  K.  Dubois,  of  Law- 
rence county,  afterward  State  Auditor  of  Illinois,  who 
served  with  Mm  during  liis  entire  legislative  career.  He 
had  not  yet  been  admitted  to  the  bar;  he  had  yet  his  repu- 
tation to  make,  no  less,  as  a  politician  and  orator.  At  this 
time  he  was  very  plain  in  Ms  costume,  as  well  as  rather 
uncourtly  in  Ms  address  and  general  appearance.  His 
clothing  was  of  homely  Kentucky  jean,  and  the  first  im- 
pression made  by  his  tall,  lank  figure,  upon  those  who  saw 
Mm,  was  not  specially  prepossessing.  He  had  not  out^ 
grown  Ms  hard  backwoods  experience,  and  showed  no  in- 
clination to  disguise  or  to  cast  behind  him  the  honest  and 
manly,  though  unpolished,  characteristics  of  Ms  eariier 
days.  Never  was  a  man  further  removed  from  all  snob- 
bish affectation.  As  little  was  there,  also,  of  the  dema- 
gogue art  of  assuming  an  uncoutlmess  or  rusticity  of  man- 
ner and  outward  habit,  with  -the  mistaken  notion  of  thus 
securing  particular  favor  as  "one  of  the  masses."  He 
chose  to  appear  then,  as  in  all  his  later  life,  precisely  what 
he  was.  His  deportment  was  unassuming,  though  with- 
out any  awkwardness  of  reserve. 

During  this,  Ms  first  session  in  the  Legislature,  he  was 
taking  lessons,  as  became  his  youth  and  inexperience,  and 
preparing  Mmself  for  the  future,  by  close  observation  and 
attention  to  business,  rather  than  by  a  prominent  partici- 
pation in  debate.  He  seldom,  perhaps  never,  took  the 
floor  to  speak,  although  before  the  close  of  this  and  the 


42  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

succeeding  special  session  of  the  same  Legislature,  he  had 
shown,  as  previously  in  every  other  capacity  in  wliich  he 
was  engaged,  qualities  that  clearly  pointed  to  Mm  as  fitted 
to  act  a  leacUng  part.  One  of  his  associates  from  Sanga- 
mon coimty.  Major  Stuart,  was  now  the  most  prominent 
member  on  the  "^Tiig  side  of  the  house. 

The  organization  of  this  Legislature,  was,  of  course,  in  the 
hands  of  the  Democrats.  The  Speaker  v/as  Hon.  Jame§ 
Semple,  afterward  United  States  Senator.  In  the  selec- 
tion of  his  committees,  he  assigned  Lincoln  the  second  place 
on  the  Committee  on  Public  Accounts  and  Expenditures, 
as  if  with  an  intuition,  in  advance  of  acquaintance,  of  the 
propriety  of  setting  "  Honest  Abe"  to  look  after  the  public 
treasury 

This  Legislature  gave  some  attention  to  what  are  tech- 
nically called  internal  improvements  witliin  the  State.  In 
behalf  of  the  IlUnois  and  Micliigan  Canal,  the  company  for 
constructing  wliich  had  been  incorporated  in  1S25,  a  loan 
was  agitated  at  the  first  session.  Congress  had  granted 
for  tliis  work,  in  1826,  about  300,000  acres  of  land  on  the 
proposed  route  of  the  cana.l  But  for  a  special  message  of 
Governor  Duncan,  maintaining  that  the  desired  loan  could 
be  effected  on  a  pledge  of  these  canal  lands  alone,  it  is 
probable  that  the  loan  bill,  reported  by  a  Senator  from 
Sangamon  county,  named  George  Forguer,  would  have 
passed.  At  the  next  session,  in  1835,  tliis  message  was 
carried,  a  bill  pledging  the  credit  of  the  State  in  behalf  of 
the  canal  Company,  to  the  amount  originally  proposed, 
having  become  a  law.  The  loan  was  negotiated  by  Gov- 
ernor Duncan  the  next  year,  and  the  work  on  this  im- 
portant canal  was  commenced  in  June,  1836.  At  the  same 
special  session,  a  large  number  of  railroads,  without  State 
aid,  were  chartered,  including  the  Illinois  Central  and  the 
Galena  and  Cliicago  routes. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  43 

It  was  during  the  regular  session  of  this  Legislature,  that 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  not  liimself  a  member,  became  first 
known  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  Late  in  the  year,  1833,  Mr.  Douglas 
then  in  his  twenty-first  year,  had  migrated  to  Illinois  (Ver- 
mont being  Ifis  native  State),  and  commenced  teaching 
a  district  school  in  Winchester,  Scott  county.  During  the 
succeeding  year  he  gave  a  portion  of  his  time  to  the  study 
of  law,  taking  part  also  in  the  political  affairs  of  his  locality. 
The  Legislature,  at  this  session,  had  taken  from  the  Gov- 
ernor the  power  of  appointing  State's  attorneys  for  the 
several  judicial  districts,  and  provided  that  these  officers 
should  be  elected  by  the  Legislature,  in  joint  convention. 
Though  he  had  been  but  a  little  more  than  a  year  in  the 
State,  and  was  scarcely  to  be  regarded  as  an  expert  in  the 
profession  of  the  law,  Mr.  Douglas  presented  himself  be- 
fore the  Legislature  as  a  candidate  for  State's  attorney  for 
the  first  judicial  district,  against  Mr.  Hardin,  a  distin- 
guished lawyer,  then  in  office.  The  movement  was  so 
adroit,  that  the  youthful  advocate  distanced  his  unsus- 
pecting competitor,  receiving  thirty-eight  votes  to  thirty- 
six  cast  against  him.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  not  only  preceded 
Mr.  Douglas  as  a  resident  of  Illinois,  but,  also,  as  thus  seen, 
in  gaining  a  political  standing  in  the  State. 

In  1836,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  for  a  second  term,  as 
one  of  the  seven  representatives  from  Sangamon  county. 
Among  his  associates  were  Mr.  Dawson,  re-elected,  and 
Ninian  AV.  Edwards.  Mr.  Douglas  was  one  of  the  repre- 
sentatives from  Morgan  coimty  (to  which  he  had  recently 
removed),  and  along  with  him  Mr.  Hardin,  whom  he  had 
managed  to  supersede  as  State's  attorney  in  1835.  The 
latter  (who  was  subsequently  in  Congress,  and  who  fell  at 
Buena  Vista)  was  the  only  Wliig  elected  from  that  county, 
the  other  five  representatives  being  Democrats.  This 
canvass  in  Morgan  county  is  memorable   for  introducing 


44  Life  of  Abrail^m  Lincoln. 

in  Illinois,  through  the  aid  of  Douglas,  the  convention 
system,  the  benefit  of  which  he  was  subsequently  to  reap 
in  the  local  contests  of  that  State.  He  had  been  put  on  his 
representative  ticket  to  fUl  a  vacancy,  having  failed  himself 
in  this  instance  to  secure  a  nomination  from  the  convention. 
He  was  never  again  elected  to  the  Legislature,  having  in 
fact  vacated  his  seat  after  the  first  session,  and  accepted  the 
federal  appointment  of  Register  in  the  land  ofiice  at  Spring- 
field. 

In  this  House,  as  in  that  which  immediately  preceded, 
the  Democrats  had  a  decided  majority.  General  Semple 
was  re-elected  Speaker.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  assigned  a  place 
on  the  Committee  on  Finance.  In  addition  to  those  we 
have  alread}^  named,  the  house  included  many  men  of 
abilitj^  who  have  been  distinguished  in  the  politices  of  the 
State  or  of  the  nation,  among  whom  were  James  Shields, 
Augustus  C.  French,  Robert  Smith,  John  Dougherty, 
W.  A.  Richardson,  and  John  A.  McClernand.  At  the  two 
sessions  of  tliis  Legislature,  in  1836  and  '37,  Mr.  Lincoln 
came  forward  more  prominently  in  debate  gradually, 
becoming  recognized  as  the  leading  man  on  the  Whig  side. 

The  subject  of  internal  improvements  became  one  of 
the  most  prominent  ones  before  this  Legislature,  as  had 
happened  with  the  last.  Of  this  policy,  in  a  judiciously 
guarded  form,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  from  the  first  a  staunch 
and  efficient  advocate.  He  held  it  to  be  the  duty  of  Gov- 
ernment to  extend  its  fostering  aid,  in  every  constitutional 
way,  and  to  a  reasonable  extent,  to  whatever  enterprise 
of  public  utility  required  such  assistance,  in  order  to  the 
fullest  development  of  the  natmal  resources,  and  to  the 
most  rapid  healthful  growth  of  the  State. 

At  the  first  session  of  1S36-7,  about  1,300  miles  of  rail- 
road were  provided  for,  in  various  quarters,  the  comple- 
tion of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  from  Chicago  to 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  45 

Peru,  and  the  improvement  of  the  navigation  of  the  Kas- 
kaskia,  Illinois,  Rock,  and  Great  and  Little  Wabash  rivers; 
requiring  in  all  a  loan  of  $8,000,000.  This  included  the 
novel  appropriation  of  $2,000,000  to  be  distributed  among 
those  counties  through  which  none  of  the  proposed  im- 
provements were  to  be  made.  The  system  voted  by  the 
Legislature  was  on  a  most  m.agnificent  scale,  such  as  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  or  IncUana  had  not  surpassed. 
This  system  of  internal  improveir.ent,  having  scarcely  been 
inaugurated  when  the  crash  of  1837  came,  did  not  entirely 
correspond  in  practice  with  what  it  had  promised  in  theory. 
There  was  also  a  considerable  addition  made  to  the  bank- 
ing capital  of  the  State  at  this  session. 

During  the  winter,  resolutions  of  an  extreme  Southern 
character  on  the  slavery  question,  were  introduced,  and, 
after  discussion,  adopted  by  the  Democratic  majority.  The 
attempt  was,  of  course,  made  to  affix  a  character  of  aboli- 
tionism to  all  those  who  refused  assent  to  these  extreme 
views.  At  that  time,  the  public  sentiment  of  the  North  was 
not  aroused  on  the  subject,  as  it  became  a  few  years  later, 
in  consequence  of  pro-slavery  aggressions.  Yet  Mr. 
Lincoln  refused  to  vote  for  these  resolutions,  and  exer- 
cised his  constitutional  privilege,  along  with  one  of  his 
colleagues  from  Sangamon  county,  of  entering  upon  the 
Journal  of  the  House  his  reasons  for  thus  acting. 

March  3,   1837. 

The  following  protest  was  presented  to  the  House,  which 
was  read  and  ordered  to  be  spread  on  the  journals,  to-wit: 

"  Resolutions  upon  the  subject  of  domestic  slavery  having 
passed  both  branches  of  the  General  Assembly,  at  its  pres- 
ent session,  the  undersigned  hereby  protest  against  the 
passage  of  the  same. 

"They  believe  that  the  institution  of  slavery  is  founded 


46  Life  of  Abraham  Lixcoln. 

on  both  injustice  and  bad  policy;  antl  that  the  promulga- 
tion of  abolition  doctrines  tend  rather  to  increase  than 
abate  its  e\'ils. 

"They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
has  no  power,  under  the  Constitution,  to  interfere  with  the 
institution  of  slavery  in  the  different  states. 

"They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
has  the  power,  under  the  Constitution,  to  abohsh  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia;  but  that  the  power  ought  not 
to  be  exercised,  unless  at  the  request  of  the  people  of  said 
District. 

"The  difference  between  these  opinions  and  those  con- 
tained in  the  said  resolutions,  is  their  reason  for  entering 
this  protest. 

"(Signed)  "Dan   Stoxe, 

"A.  Lincoln, 
"Representatives  from  the  County  of  Sangamon." 

On  the  formation  of  the  separate  territory  of  Illinois,  in 
1809,  Kaskaslda,  perhaps  the  oldest  town  in  all  the  Western 
country,  had  been  designated  as  the  capital.  Such  it  con- 
tinued to  be  until  Illinois  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a 
State,  in  1818,  when  Vandalia,  far  up  the  Kaskaskia  river, 
was  laid  out  as  the  new  capital.  For  some  time  it  con- 
tinued to  be  relatively  a  central  location.  But  dm-ing  several 
years  immediately  prececUng  1837,  the  middle  and  northern 
portions  of  the  State  had  become  so  populated  that  the  re- 
moval of  the  capital  to  a  point  nearer  the  geograpliical 
center  had  become  manifestly  expetUent.  At  tliis  session, 
accordingly,  an  act  was  passed  changing  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment to  Springfield,  the  principal  town  in  the  interior  of 
the  State,  from  and  after  the  4th  day  of  Julj'^,  1839.  To 
the  people  of  Sangamon  county,  whom  JIr.  Lincoln  repre- 
sented, this  was  of  course  a  most  Satisfactory  measure,  and 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  47 

by  the  State  at  large  it  was  received  with  general  approba- 
tion. Yandalia,  wMch  had  reached  a  population  of  about 
two  thousand,  dwindled  away  for  a  time,  until  it  had  but 
about  one-fourth  that  number  of  inhabitants,  though  of 
late  years  it  has  revived,  and  to-day  has  about  three  thou- 
sand inhabitants.  Springfield  has  steadily  advanced, 
since  tliis  period,  and  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  our 
Western  cities.  The  prairie  country  for  scores  of  miles 
around  is  as  charming  in  appearance  and  as  fertile  in  its 
productions  as  any  tract  of  like  extent  anywhere.  It  is 
greatly  to  the  credit  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  good  taste  and 
sagacity  that,  when  he  came  to  his  majority,  he  fixed  upon 
such  a  locality  for  his  home,  foreseeing  for  this  spot  a  suc- 
cessful future,  to  which  (altogether  beyond  his  anticipa- 
tions) his  influence,  in  1836,  added  a  material  advantage, 
and  his  presence,  in  1860,  gave  a  national  luster  of  renown. 

Li  1S3S,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  for  the  third  time  elected  a 
representative  in  the  Legislature,  for  the  two  years  ensu- 
ing. Among  the  other  six  representatives  of  Sangamon 
county  was  John  Calhoun,  since  notorious  for  his  connection 
with  the  Lecompton  constitution.  Availing  himself  of 
some  local  issue  or  other,  and  being  a  man  of  conceded 
ability,  of  highly  respectable  Whig  antecedents  and  con- 
nections, he  had  slipped  in  by  a  small  majority,  crowding 
out  the  lowest  candidate  on  the  Whig  ticket.  The  re- 
maining five  were  Whigs, -including  E.  D.  Baker,  Ninian  W. 
Edwards,  and  A.  McCormick.  The  strength  of  the  two 
parties  in  the  house  was  nearly  evenly  balanced,  the  Demo- 
crats having  only  three  or  four  majority,  rendering  this 
unexpected  gain  particularly  acceptable. 

So  well  organized  was  now  the  position  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in 
liis  party,  that,  by  general  consent,  he  received  the  Whig 
vote  for  the  Speakership.  There  was  a  close  contest, 
his  Democratic  competitors  being  Colonel  WiUiam  Lee  D, 


48  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Ewing,  who  had  served  with  Lincoln  in  the  Black-Hawk 
war.  On  the  fourth  ballot,  Ewing  had  a  majority  of  one 
over  all  others,  two  Whigs  (including  Mr.,  Lincoln)  and 
two  Democrats  having  scattered  their  votes. 

At  the  State  election,  in  August,  183S,  the  Whig  candi- 
date for  Governor  made  an  excellent  run,  but  was  defeated 
by  Thomas  Carlin,  Democrat.  State  affairs  were  hardly 
brought  in  issue  in  the  general  canvass.  A  majority  of  the 
Legislature,  at  the  first  session,  was  opposed  to  the  repeal 
or  modification  of  the  public  works  system,  but  vsted 
adcUtional  expenditures  thereon,  to  the  amount  of  $800,000. 
At  a  special  session,  however,  tliis  body  repealed  the  system, 
and  made  provisions  for  its  gradual  winding  up.  Mr. 
Lincoln,  as  the  Whig  leader,  had  liis  position  on  the  Com- 
mittee on  Finance,  and  exerted  his  influence  in  favor  of 
wise  counsels,  and  such  a  determination  of  affairs  as 
would  best  remedy  the  evils  resulting  from  tlfis  loose  Demo- 
cratic tampering  with  measure  of  Whig  policy. 

Aside  from  these  financial  questions,  there  were  few 
matters  of  any  general  interest  before  this  Legislature. 
Tliis  session  of  1838-9  was  the  last  held  at  Vandalia.  A 
special  session  in  1839,  inaugurated  a  new  state-house  at 
Springfield.  The  great  contest  of  1840  was  already  casting 
its  shadow  before,  and  began  chiefly  to  engross  the  atten- 
tion of  persons  in  political  life.  Whig  candidates  for  electors 
were  nominated  in  November  of  this  year,  and  discussions 
commenced  in  earnest.  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  was  deemed 
one  of  the  strongest  champions  of  the  cause  before  the 
people,  was  repeatedly  called  on  to  encounter  the  foremost 
advocates  of  the  Democratic  party — what  no  man  in 
Illinois,  it  was  now  manifest,  could  do  more  successfully. 

For  the  fourth  time  in  succession,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected 
to  the  Legislature  in  1840 — the  last  election  to  that  position 
which  he  would  consent  to  accept  from  his  strongly  attached 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  49 

constitutents  of  Sangamon  county.  In  this  Legislature, 
like  all  previous  ones  in  which  he  had  served,  the  Demo- 
crats had  a  majority  in  both  branches,  and  the  responsibility 
of  all  legislation  was  with  them.  It  was  at  this  session  that, 
to  overrule  a  decision  unacceptable  to  Democrats,  and  for 
political  and  personal  reasons  of  common  notoriety  in 
Illinois,  the  judicial  system  of  the  State  was  changed,  as 
desired,  by  Mr.  Douglas,  against  the  judgment  of  many 
leading  Democrats,  and  five  new  judges,  of  whom  Mr. 
Douglas  was  one,  were  added  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State.  This  is  now  generally  felt  to  be  a  measure  confer- 
ring little  credit  upon  those  concerned  in  concocting  the 
scheme,  and  was  never  heartily  approved  by  the  people. 

There  was  but  one  session  during  the  two  years  for  which 
this  Legislature  was  chosen.  Mr.  Lincoln,  as  in  the  last, 
was  the  acknowledged  Whig  leader,  and  the  candidate  of  his 
party  for  Speaker.  First  elected  at  twenty-five,  he  had 
continued  in  office  without  interruptioa  so  long  as  his  in- 
clination allowed,  and  until,  by  his  uniform  courtesy  and 
kindness  of  manners,  his  marked  ability,  and  his  straight- 
forward integrity,  he  had  won  an  enviable  repute  through- 
out the  Sate,  and  was  virtually,  when  but  a  little  past 
thirty,  placed  at  the  head  of  liis  party  in  Illinois. 

Begun  ii>comparative  obscurity,  and  without  any  adven- 
titious aids  in  its  progress,  this  period  of  his  life,  at  its  termi- 
nation, had  brought  him  to  a  position  where  he  was  secure 
in  the  confidence  of  the  people,  and  prepared,  in  due  time, 
to  enter  upon  a;  more  enlarged  and  brilliant  career,  as  a 
national  statesman.  His  fame  as  a  close  and  convincing 
debater  was  established.  His  native  talent  as  an  orator 
had  at  once  been  demonstrated  and  disciplined.  His  zeal 
and  earnestness  in  behalf  of  a  party  whose  principles  he 
believed  to  be  right,  had  rallied  strong  troops  of  political 
friends  about  him,  while  his  unfeigned  modesty  and  his  un- 


50  Life  of  Abr.\ham  Lincoln. 

pretending  and  simple  bearing,  in  marked  contrast  with 
that  of  so  many  imperious  leaders,  had  won  him  general 
and  lasting  esteem.  He  preferred  no  claim  as  a  partisan, 
and  showed  no  overweening  anxiety  to  advance  himself, 
but  was  always  a  disinterested  and  generous  co-worker 
with  his  associates,  only  ready  to  accept  the  post  of  honor 
and  of  responsibility,  when  it  was  clearly  their  will,  and 
satisfactory  to  the  people  whose  interests  were  involved. 
At  the  close  of  this  period,  with  scarcely  any  consciousness 
of  the  fact  himself,  and  with  no  noisy  demonstrations  of 
flashy  ostentation  in  lus  behalf  from  his  friends,  he  was  really 
one  of  the  foremost  poUtical  men  in  the  State.  A  keen 
observer  might  even  then  have  predicted  a  great  future  for 
the  "Sangamon  Chief,"  as  he  was  sometimes  called  in 
Illinois ;  and  only  such  an  observer,  perhaps,  iw-^ukl  then 
have  adequately  estimated  liis  real  jDower  as  a  natural 
orator,  a  sagacious  statesman,  and  a  gallant  tribune  of 

THE   PEOPLE 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Elected  a  Member  of  Congress. 

During  the  time  of  his  service  in  the  Legislature,  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  busily  engaged  in  mastering  the  profession 
of  law.  This  he  was,  indeed,  compelled  to  do  somewhat 
at  intervals,  and  with  many  disadvantages,  from  the  ne- 
cessity he  was  under  to  support  himself  meanwhile  by  his 
own  labor,  to  say  nothing  of  the  attention  he  was  com- 
pelled to  give  to  politics,  by  the  position  he  had  accepted. 
Nothing,  however,  could  prevent,  his  consummating  his 
purpose.  He  completed  his  preliminary  studies,  and  was 
licensed  to  practice  in  1836.  His  reputation  was  now  such 
that  he  found  a  good  amount  of  business,  and  began  to  rise 
to  the  front  rank  in  his  profession.  He  was  a  most  effective 
jury  ad^'ocate,  and  manifested  a  ready  perception  and  a 
sound  judgment  of  the  turning  legal  points  of  a  case.  His 
clear,  practical  sense,  and  his  skill  in  homely  or  humorous 
illustration,  were  noticeable  traits  in  his  arguments.  The 
graces  and  the  cold  artificialities  of  a  polished  rhetoric,  he 
certainly  had  not,  nor  did  he  aim  to  acquire  them.  His 
style  of  expression  and  the  cast  of  his  thought  were  his  own, 
having  all  the  native  force  of  a  genuine  originality. 

The  following  incident,  of  which  the  narration  is  believed 
to  be  substantially  accurate,  is  from  the  pen  of  one  who 
professes  to  write  from  personal  knowledge.  It  is  given  in 
this  connection,  as  at  once  illustrating  the  earlier  struggles 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  acquiring  his  profession,  the  character 

51 


52  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

of  his  forensic  efforts  and  the  generous  gratitude  and  dis- 
interestedness of  his  nature. 

Having  chosen  the  law  as  his  future  calling,  he  devoted 
himself  assiduously  to  its  mastery,  contending  at  every 
step  with  adverse  fortune.  During  this  period  of  study 
he  for  some  time  found  a  home  under  the  hospitable  roof  of 
one  Armstrong,  a  farmer,  who  lived  in  a  log  house  some 
eight  miles  from  the  village  of  Petersburg,  in  Menard 
county.  Here  young  Lincoln  would  master  his  lessons 
by  the  firelight  of  the  cabin,  and  then  walk  to  town  for  the 
purpose  of  recitation.  This  man  Armstrong  was  himself 
poor,  but  he  saw  the  genius  struggling  in  the  young  student, 
and  opened  to  liim  his  rude  home,  and  bid  him  welcome 
to  his  coarse  fare.  How  Lincoln  graduated  with  promise — 
how  he  has  more  than  fulfilled  that  promise — how  honor- 
ably he  acquitted  himself,  alike  on  the  battle-field,  in  de- 
fending our  border  settlements  against  the  ravages  of 
savage  foes,  and  in  the  halls  of  our  national  legislature,  are 
matters  of  liistory,  and  need  no  repetition  here.  But  one 
Uttle  incident,  of  a  more  private  nature,  standing  as  it  does 
as  a  sort  of  sequel  to  some  things  already  alluded  to,  I  deem 
worthy  of  record.  Some  few  years  since,  the  oldest  son  of 
IIr.  Lincoln's  old  friend  Armstrong,the  chief  support  of 
his  widowed  mother— the  good  old  man  having  some  time 
previously  passed  from  earth — was  arrested  on  the  charge 
of  murder.  A  young  man  had  l^een  killed  during  a  riotous 
melee,  in  the  night-time,  at  a  camp-meeting,  and  one  of  his 
associates  stated  that  the  death-wound  was  inflicted  by 
young  Armstrong.  A  preliminary  examination  was  gone 
into,  at  wliich  the  accuser  testified  so  positively,  that  there 
seemed  no  doubt  of  the  guilt  of  the  prisoner,  and  therefore 
he  was  held  for  trial.  As  is  too  often  the  case,  the  bloody 
act  caused  an  undue  degree  of  excitement  in  the  public 
mind.    Every  improper  incident  in  the  life  of  the  prisoner 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  53 

— each  act  which  bore  the  least  semblance  of  rowdyism — 
each  school-boy  quarrel — was  suddenly  remembered  and 
magnified,  until  they  pictured  him  as  a  fiend  of  the  most 
horrid  hue.     As  these  rumors  spread  abroad,  they  were 
received  as  gospel  truth,  and  a  feverish  desire  for  vengeance 
seized  upon  the  infatuated  populace,  while  only  prison 
bars  prevented  a  horrible  death  at  the  hands  of  a  mob. 
The  events  were  heralded  in  the  newspapers,  painted  in 
highest  colors,  accompanied  by  rejoicing  over  the  cer- 
tainty of  punishment  being  meted  out  to  the  guilty  party. 
The  prisoner,  overwhelmed  by  the  circumstances  in  which 
he  found  himself  placed,  fell  into  a  melancholy  condition, 
bordering  upon  despair;  and  the  widowed  mother,  looking 
through  her  tears,  saw  no  cause  for  hope  from  earthly  aid. 
At  this  juncture,  the  widow  received  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Lincoln,  volunteering  his  services  in  an  effort  to  save  the 
youth  from  the  impending  stroke.    Gladly  was  his  aid  ac- 
cepted, although  it  seemed  impossible  for  even  his  sagacity 
to  prevail  in  such  a  desperate  case;  but  the  heart  of  the 
attorney  was  in  his  work,  and  he  set  about  it  with  a  will 
that    knew    no    such    word    as    fail.     Feeling  that  the 
poisoned  condition  of  the  pubUc  mind  was  such  as  to 
preclude  the  possibihty  of   impaneling   an  impartial  jury 
in  the  court  having  jurisdiction,  he  procured  a  change  of 
venue,  and  a  postponement  of  the  trial.     He  then  went 
studiously  to  work  unraveling  the  history  of  the  case,  and 
satisfied  liimself  that  Ms  client  was  the  victim  of  malice, 
and  that  the  statements  of  the  accuser  were  a  tissue  of 
falsehoods.    When  the  trial  was  called  on,  the  prisoner, 
pale  and  emaciated,  with  hopelessness  wTitten  on  every 
feature,  and  accompanied  by  his  half-hoping,  half-despair- 
ing mother — whose  only  hope  was  in  a  mother's  belief  of 
her  son's  innocence,  in  the  justice  of  the  God  she  wor- 
shipped, and  in  the  noble  counsel,  who,  without  hope  of 


54  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

fee  or  reward  upon  earth,  had  undertaken  the  cause — 
took  his  seat  in  the  prisoner's  box,  and  with  a  "  stony  firm- 
ness" listened  to  the  reading  of  the  indictment. 

Lincoln  sat  quietly  by,  while  the  large  auditory  looked 
on  him  as  though  wondering  what  he  could  say  in  defense 
of  one  whose  guilt  they  regarded  as  certain.  The  examina- 
tion of  the  witnesses  for  the  State  was  begun,  and  a  well- 
arranged  mass  of  evidence,  circumstantial  and  positive, 
was  introduced,  wliich  seemed  to  impale  the  prisoner 
beyond  the  possibility  of  extrication.  The  counsel  for 
the  defense  propounded  but  few  questions,  and  those  of  a 
character  which  exited  no  uneasiness  on  the  part  of  the 
prosecutor — merely,  in  most  cases,  requiring  the  main 
witness  to  be  definite  as  to  time  and  place.  When  the 
evidence  of  the  prosecution  was  ended,  Lincoln  intro- 
duced a  few  witnesses  to  remove  some  erroneous  impres- 
sions in  regard  to  the  previous  character  of  his  client,  who, 
though  somewhat  rowdyish,  had  never  been  known  to 
commit  a  vicious  act;  and  to  show  that  a  greater  degree 
of  ill-feeling  existed  between  the  accuser  and  the  accused, 
than  the  accused  and  the  deceased.  The  prosecutor  felt 
that  the  case  was  a  clear  one,  and  his  opening  speech  was 
brief  and  formal.  Lincoln  arose,  wliile  a  deathly  silence 
pervaded  the  vast  audience,  and  in  a  clear  but  moderate 
tone  began  liis  argument.  Slowly  and  carefully  he  re- 
viewed the  testimony,  pointing  out  the  hitherto  unob- 
served discrepancies  in  the  statements  of  the  principal 
witness.  That  which  had  seemed  plain  and  plausible,  he 
made  to  appear  crooked  as  a  serpent's  path.  The  witness 
had  stated  that  the  affair  took  place  at  a  certain  hour  in 
the  evening,  and  that,  by  the  aid  of  the  brightly  shining 
moon,  ho  saw  the  prisoner  inflict  the  death-blow  with  a 
slung-shot.  Mr.  Lincoln  showed,  that  at  the  hour  re- 
ferred to,  the  moon  had  not  yet  appeared  above  the  horizon, 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  55 

and  consequently  the  whole  tale  was  a  fabrication.     An 
almost  instantaneous  change  seemed  to  have  been  wrought 
in  the  minds  of  liis  auditors,  and    the  verdict  of  "not 
guilty"  was  at  the  end  of  every  tongue.    But  the  advocate 
was  not  content  with  this  intellectual  achievement.     His 
whole  being  had  for  months  been  bound  up  in  this  work 
of  gratitude  and  mercy,  and  as  the  lava  of  the  over-charged 
crater  bursts  from  its  imprisonment,  so  great  thoughts 
and  burning  words  leaped  forth  from  the  soul  of  the  elo- 
quent Lincoln.     He  drew  a  picture  of  the  perjurer,  so 
horrid  and  ghastly  that  the  accuser  could  sit  under  it  no 
longer,  but  reeled  and  staggered  from  the  court-room, 
while  the  audience  fancied  they  could  see  the  brand  upon 
his  brow.    Then  in  words  of  thrilling  pathos,  Lincoln 
appealed  to  the  jurors,  as  fathers  of  sons  who  might  become 
fatherless,  and  as  husbands  of  wives  who  might  be  wid- 
owed, to  yield  to  no  previous  impressions,  no  ill-founded 
prejudice,  but  to  do  his  client  justice;  and  as  he  alluded  to 
the    debt    of   gratitude   which  he  owed  the   boy's  sire, 
tears  were  seen  to  fall  from  many  eyes  unused  to  weep. 
It  was  near  night  when  he  concluded  by  saying,  that  if 
justice  was  done — as  he  believed  it  would  be — before  the 
sun  should  set  it  would  shine  upon  his  client,  a  freeman. 
The  jury  retired,  and  the  court  adjourned  for  the  day. 
Half  an  hour  had  not  elapsed,  when,  as  the  officers  of  the 
court  and  the  volunteer  attorney  sat  at  the  tea-table  of 
their  hotel,  a  messenger  announced  that  the  jury  had 
returned  to  their  seats.    All  repaired  immediately  to  the 
court-house,  and  while  the  prisoner  was  being  brought 
from  the  jail,  the  court-room  was  filled  to  overflowing 
with  citizens  of  the  town.    When  the  prisoner  and  his 
mother  entered,  silence  reigned  as  completely  as  though 
the  house  were  empty.     The  foreman  of  the  jury,  in  an- 
swer to  the  usaal  inquiry  from  the  court,  delivered  the 


56  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

verdict  of  "Not  Guilty!"  The  widow  dropped  into  the 
arms  of  her  son,  who  lifted  her  up,  and  told  her  to  look  upon 
him  as  before,  free  and  innocent.  Then,  with  the  words, 
"Where  is  Mr.  Lincoln?"  he  rushed  across  the  room  and 
grasped  the  hand  of  his  deliverer,  wliile  his  heart  was  too 
full  for  utterance.  Lincoln  turned  his  eyes  toward  the 
West,  where  the  sun  still  lingered  in  view,  and  then,  turn- 
ing to  the  youth,  said,  "  It  is  not  yet  sundown,  and  you  are 
free."  I  confess  that  my  cheeks  were  not  wholly  unwet 
by  tears,  and  I  turned  from  the  affecting  scene.  As  I  cast  a 
glance  behind,  I  saw  Abraham  Lincoln  obeying  the  divine 
injunction,  by  comforting  the  widowed  and  the  fatherless. 

On  becoming  well  established  in  his  profession,  Mr. 
Lincoln  took  up  his  permanent  residence  at  Springfield, 
the  county-seat  of  Sangamon  county.  This  occurred  in 
the  spring  immediately  following  the  passage  of  the  act 
removing  the  State  capital  to  that  place,  but  more  than 
two  years  before  it  was  to  go  into  effect.  The  date  at 
which  he  became  settled  in  Springfield,  wliich  was  ever 
after  the  place  of  liis  residence,  was  April  15,  1837. 

For  several  years  after  his  removal,  Mr.  Lincoln  re- 
mained a  bachelor,  and  an  inmate  of  the  family  of  the  Hon. 
William  Butler,  in  later  years  the  Treasurer  of  the  State. 
For  three  or  four  years  he  continued  to  represent  his 
county  in  the  Legislature,  but  after  1S40,  he  refused  fur- 
ther public  service,  with  a  view  to  the  exclusive  pursuit 
of  his  profession,  the  liighcst  success  in  wliich  he  could 
not  hope  to  obtain  while  giving  so  much  of  his  time,  as  had 
been  hitherto  required  of  liim,  to  political  affairs. 

On  the  4th  of  November,  1842,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  married 
to  Miss  Mary  Todd,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Robert  S.  Todd, 
of  Lexington,  Kentucky.  Tliis  lady  is  one  of  four  sisters, 
the  eldest  of  whom  had  previously  married  the  Governor, 
Ninian  W.  Edwards,  and  settled  at  Springfield.     Her  two 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


57 


other  sisters,  subsequently  married,  became  residents  of 
the  same  town.  Mr.  Lincoln's  domestic  relations  were 
happy,  and  his  devoted  attachment  to  his  home  and  fam- 
ily was  always  one  of  the  marked  traits  of  his  personal 
character.  Of  the  four  sons  born  to  him,  Robert  Todd, 
the  oldest,  was  at  school  at  Exeter  Academy,  in  New 
Hampsliire,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was  first  nominated  for 
the  Presidency,  and  soon  after  entered  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, where  he  completed  his  course  in  1864,  when  in 
his  twenty-first  year.  He  subsequently  filled  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  War  under  Presidents  Garfield  and  Arthur, 
and  represented  his  country  as  Minister  to  England.  The 
second  son  died  when  four  years  old.  The  third,  Willie, 
died  at  the  White  House  in  1863,  at  the  age  o  f  twelve  years. 
Thomas,  familiarly  called  "Tad,"  was  two  years  younger. 

It  is  proper  to  mention  that  Mrs.Lincoln  was  a  Presby- 
terian by  education  and  profession  (two  of  her  sisters  were 
Episcopalians),  and  that  her  husband,  though  not  a  mem- 
ber, was  a  liberal  supporter  of  the  church  to  which  she  be- 
longed. It  should  further  be  stated  that  the  Sunday  School 
and  other  benevolent  enterprises  associated  with  these 
church  relations  found  in  him  a  constant  friend. 

In  this  quiet  domestic  happiness,  and  in  the  active  prac- 
tice of  liis  profession,  with  its  round  of  ordinary  duties,  and 
with  its  exceptional  cases  of  a  more  general  public  interest, 
Mr.  Lincoln  disappears  for  a  time  from  political  life.  Its 
peculiar  excitements,  indeed,  were  not  foreign  to  the  stir- 
ring and  adventurous  nature  wliich,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
his  by  inheritance.  Nor  could  the  people,  and  the  party 
of  which  he  was  so  commanding  a  leader,  long  consent  to 
his  retirement.  Yet  such  was  liis  prudent  purpose — now 
■especially,  with  a  family  to  care  for — and  to  this  he  ad- 
hered, with  only  occasional  exceptions,  until,  four  years 
after  his  marriage,  he  was  elected  to  Congress. 


58  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Mr.  Lincoln  had,  from  his  first  entrance  into  political 
life,  recognized  Henry  Clay  as  his  great  leader  and  instruct- 
or in  statesmanship.  His  reverence  and  attachn-.ent  for 
the  great  Kentuckian  had  been  imlimited  and  enthusiastic. 
When,  therefore,  ]\Ir.  Clay  had  been  nominated  by  acclama- 
tion for  the  Presidency  by  the  National  Whig  Conven- 
tion, held  at  Baltimore  on  the  1st  of  May,  1844,  and  when 
a  Democrat  of  the  most  offensive  school  was  put  in  nomina- 
tion against  him,  Mr.  Lincoln  yielded  to  the  demands  of 
the  Whigs  of  Illinois,  and,  for  the  first  time  breaking  over 
the  restrictions  he  had  placed  upon  himself  in  regard  to  the 
exclusive  pursuit  of  his  profession,  he  consented  to  take  a 
leading  position  in  canvassing  the  State  as  an  elector.  In 
a  State  that  had  stood  unshaken  in  its  Democratic  position, 
while  so  many  others  had  been  revolutionized  during 
the  great  political  tempest  of  1840,  there  was,  of  course, 
no  hope  of  immediate  success.  It  was  deemed  an  oppor- 
timity  not  to  be  lost,  however,  for  maintaining  and 
strengthening  the  Wliig  organization,  and  a  spirited 
canvass  was  subsequently  made. 

On  the  Democratic  side,  John  C.  Calhoun,  then  one  of 
the  strongest  and  most  popular  speakers  of  that  party, 
and  in  many  respects  quite  another  man  than  he  subse- 
quently became,  held  the  laboring  oar  for  Mr.  Polk.  Mr. 
Lincoln  traversed  various  parts  of  the  State,  attracting 
large  audiences  and  keeping  their  fixed  attention  for  hours, 
as  he  held  up  to  adfniration  the  character  and  doctrines 
of  Henry  Clay,  and  contrasted  them  with  those  of  his 
Presidential  opponent.  On  the  tariff  question,  which 
was  the  chief  issue  in  Illinois  that  year,  he  was  particularly 
elaborate,  strongly  enforcing  the  great  principles  on  which 
the  protective  system,  as  maintained  by  Clay,  was  based. 
He  had  always  a  fund  of  anecdote  and  illustration,  with 
which  to  relieve  his  close  logical  disquisitions,  and  to 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  59 

elucidate  and  enforce  his  views  in  a  manner  perfectly  in- 
telligible, as  well  as  pleasing  to  all  classes  of  hearers. 
This  campaign,  so  barren  in  immediate  results,  as  it  was 
expected  to  be  in  Illinois,  was  not  without  its  excellent 
fruits,  ultimately,  to  the  party.  It  had  also  the  effect  of 
establishing  Mr.  Lincoln's  reputation  as  a  political  orator, 
on  a  still  broader  and  more  permanent  foundation.  From 
tills  time  forward  he  was  widely  known  as  one  of  the 
soundest  and  most  effective  of  Whig  champions  in  the 
West. 

After  doing  in  Illinois  all  that  could  have  been  required 
of  one  man,  had  this  arena  been  of  the  most  promising  de- 
scription, Mr.  Lincoln  crossed  the  Wabash,  at  the  desire 
of  the  people  of  his  former  State,  and  contributed  largely 
toward  turning  the  tide  of  battle  for  Clay  in  that  really 
hopeful  field.  Here  he  worked  most  efficiently,  losing  no 
opportunity  up  to  the  very  eve  of  the  election.  In  In- 
diana, those  efforts  were  not  forgotten,  but  were  freshly 
called  to  mind,  at  a  later  juncture,  by  great  numbers  of 
Old  Whigs  in  Southern  Indiana. 

If  any  event,  more  heartily  than  another,  could  have 
discouraged  Mr.  Lincoln  from  again  participating  in 
political  affairs,  it  was  the  disastrous  result,  in  the  nation 
at  large,  of  this  canvass  of  1S44.  He  felt  it  more  keenly 
than  he  could  have  done  if  it  were  a  mere  personal  reverse. 
Mr.  Clay  was  defeated,  contrary  to  the  ardent  hopes  and 
even  expectations  of  his  friends  down  to  the  last  moment. 
Of  the  causes  and  the  consequences  which  followed  that 
event,  the  impartial  historian,  at  some  future  day,  can 
more  candidly  and  philosophically  speak  than  any 
of  those  who  shared  in  this  disappointment.  That  the 
election  of  Mr.  Polk  over  Mr.  Clay,  made  the  subsequent 
political  history  of  our  country  far  different  from  what  it 
would  have  been  with  the  opposite  result,  all  will  concede. 


60  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Two  years  later,  in  1846,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  induced  to  ac- 
cept the  Whig  nomination  for  Congress  in  the  Sangamon 
District.  The  annexation  of  Texas  had,  in  the  mean- 
time, been  consummated.  The  Mexican  war  had  been . 
begun,  and  was  still  in  progress.  The  Whig  tariff  of  1842 
had  just  been  repealed.  This  latter  event  had  been  ac- 
complished in  the  Senate  by  the  casting  vote  of  Mr.  Dallas, 
the  Vice-President,  and  with  the  official  approval  of  Mr. 
Polk,  the  President,  both  of  whom  had  been  elected  by 
the  aid  of  Pennsylvania,  and  had  carried  the  vote  of  that 
State  solely  by  being  represented  to  the  people  as  favoring 
the  maintenance  of  the  tariff  which  they  thus  destroyed. 

The  Springfield  district  had  given  Mr.  Clay  a  majority 
of  914  in  1844,  on  the  most  thorough  canvass.  It  gave 
Mr.  Lincoln  a  majority  of  1,511,  wliich  was  entirely  un- 
precedented, and  has  been  unequalled  by  that  given  there 
for  any  opposition  candidate,  for  any  office  since.  The  near- 
est approach  was  in  1848,  when  General  Taylor,  on  a  much 
fuller  vote  than  that  of  1846,  and  receiving  the  votes  of 
numerous  returned  Mexican  volunteers,  of  Democratic 
faith,  and  who  had  served  under  him  in  Mexico,  obtained 
a  majority  of  1,501.  Li  the  same  year  (1848)  Mr.  Logan, 
the  popular  Whig  candidate,  was  beaten  by  Colonel 
Thomas  L.  Harris,  Democrat,  by  106  majority.  There 
was  no  good  reason  to  doubt,  in  advance,  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
•would  have  been  elected  by  a  handsome  majority,  had  he 
consented  to  run  for  another  term,  nor  has  it  been  ques- 
tionable, since  the  result  became  known,  that  the  strong 
personal  popularity  of  Mr.  Lincoln  would  have  i  saved 
the  district.  It  was  redeemed  by  Richard  Yates  in  1850, 
who  carried  his  election  by  less  than  half  the  majority  (754) 
which  Mr.  Lincoln  had  received  in  1845.  The  district, 
after  its  reconstruction,  following  the  census  of  1850,  was 
for  ten  years  Democratic.     Under  all  the  circumstances. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  61 

therefore,  the  vote  for  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  remarkable  one, 
showing  that  he  possessed  a  rare  degree  of  strength  with 
the  people.  His  earnest  sincerity  of  manner  always 
strongly  impressed  those  whom  he  addressed.  They 
knew  him  to  be  a  man  of  strong  moral  convictions.  An 
opponent  seemed  to  intend  a  sneer  at  this  trait,  when  he 
called  Mr.  Lincoln  "conscientious,"  but  it  was  a  quality 
to  which  the  people  were  never  indifferent. 

There  was  a  universal  confidence  in  his  honest  integrity, 
such  as  has  been  rarely  extended  to  men  so  prominent  in 
political  life.  The  longer  he  was  tried  as  a  public  servant, 
the  more  his  constituents  became  attached  to  him.  A 
popularity  thus  thoroughly  grounded  is  not  to  be  destroyed 
by  the  breezes  of  momentary  passion  or  prejudice,  or 
materially  affected  by  any  idle  fickleness  of  the  populace. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Mr.  Lincoln  in  Congress— 1847-'49. 

Mr.  Lincoln  took  his  seat  in  the  National  House  of 
Representatives  on  the  6th  day  of  December,  1847,  the 
date  of  the  opening  of  the  Thirtieth  Congress.  In  many 
respects  this  Congress  was  a  memorable  one.  That  which 
preceded,  elected  at  the  same  time  Mr.  Polk  was  chosen 
to  the  Presidency,  had  been  strongly  Democratic  in  both 
branches.  The  policy  of  the  Administration,  however, 
had  been  such,  during  the  first  two  years  of  its  existence, 
that  a  great  popular  re-action  had  followed.  The  present 
House  contained  but  one  hundred  and  ten  Democrats, 
while  the  remaining  one  hundred  and  eighteen,  with  the 
exception  of  a  single  Native  American  from  Philadelphia, 
were  nearly  all  Whigs,  the  balance  being  "Free-Soil  men, " 
who  mostly  co-operated  with  them.  Of  these,  only 
Messrs.  Giddings,  Tuck  and  Palfrey  refused  to  vote  for 
the  Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop  for  Speaker,  who  was  elected 
on  the  tliird  ballot. 

At  tills  session,  Stephen  A.  Douglas  took  his  seat  in 
the  Senate,  for  the  first  time,  having  been  elected  the 
previous  winter.  In  that  body  there  were  but  twenty-two 
Opposition  Senators,  against  thirty-six  Democrats.  Among 
the  former  were  Daniel  Webster,  Wm.  L.  Dayton,  S.  S. 
Phelps,  Jolm  M.  Clayton,  Reverdy  Johnson,  Thomas 
Corwin,  John  M.  Berrien,  and  John  Bell.  On  the  Demo- 
cratic side  were  John  C.  Calhoun,  Thomas  H.  Benton, 
Daniel  S.  Dickenson,  Simon  Cameron,  Hannibal  Hamlin, 

63 


64  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Sam  Houston,  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  and  William  R.  King. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  comparatively  quite  a  young  man 
when  he  entered  the  House,  yet  he  was  early  recognized 
as  one  of  the  foremost  of  the  Western  men  on  the  floor. 
His  Congressional  record,  throughout,  is  that  of  a  Whig  of 
those  days,  his  votes  on  all  leading  national  subjects, 
being  invariably  what  those  of  Clay,  Webster  or  Corwin 
would  have  been,  had  they  occupied  his  place.  One  of 
the  most  prominent  subjects  of  consideration  before  the 
Thirtieth  Congress,  very  naturally,  was  the  then  existing 
war  with  Mexico.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  one  of  those  who 
believed  the  Administration  had  not  properly  managed  its 
affairs  with  Mexico  at  the  outset,  and  who,  wliile  voting 
supplies,  and  for  suitably  rewarding  our  gallant  soldiers 
in  that  war,  were  unwilling  to  be  forced,  by  any  trick  of 
the  supporters  of  the  Administration,  into  an  unqualified 
indorsement  of  its  course  in  this  affair,  from  beginning 
to  end.  In  tliis  attitude,'MR.  Lincoln  did  not  stand  alone. 
Such  was  the  position  of  Wliig  members  in  both  Houses, 
without  exception.  Yet  Ms  course  was  unscrupulously 
misrepresented  during  the  campaign  of  1858,  as  it  was 
more  or  less  on  other  occasions  since.  That  many  men 
who  supported  Mr.  Lincoln,  approved  President  Polk's 
course  in  regard  to  the  Mexican  War,  as  well  in  its  inception 
as  in  its  management  from  first  to  last,  is  not  improbable. 
But  all  those,  who  at  that  time,  were  induced  by  their  party 
relations  to  sustain  the  Administration,  at  heart  approved 
the  method  in  wliich  hostilities  were  precipitated,  or  felt 
satisfied  that  the  most  commendable  motives  actuated  the 
Government  in  its  course  toward  Mexico,  is  certainly  not 
true.  This  is  not  an  issue  that  any  existing  party  need  be 
anxious  to  resuscitate.  Still  less  would  the  friends  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  be  reluctant  to  have  his  record  on  tliis  question 
scrutinized  to  the  fullest  extent. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  65 

Early  in  the  session,  after  listening  to  a  long  homily  on 
the  subject  from  the  President,  in  his  annual  message,  in 
which  the  gauntlet  was  defiantly  thrown  down  before  the 
Opposition  members,  and  after  his  colleague,  Mr.  Richard- 
son, had  proposed  an  unqualified  endorsement  of  the  Presi- 
dent's views,  Mr.  Lincoln  (December  22, 1S47)  introduced 
a  series  of  resolutions  of  inquiry  in  regard  to  the  origin  of 
the  war.  They  affirmed  nothing,  but  called  for  definite  offi- 
cial information,  such  as,  if  conclusively  furnished  in  detail, 
and  found  to  accord  with  the  general  asseverations  of  Mr. 
Polk's  messages,  would  have  set  him  and  his  administration 
entirely  right  before  the  country.  Either  such  information 
was  accessible,  or  the  repeated  statements  of  the  President 
on  this  subject  were  groundless,  and  his  allegations  mere 
pretenses.  If  the  Democratic  party  was  in  the  right,  it 
had  not  the  least  occasion  to  complain  of  this  procedure, 
if  pressed  to  a  vote.  Mr.  Lincoln's  preamble  and  resolu- 
tions (copied  from  the  Congressional  Globe,  first  session, 
Thirtieth  Congress,  page  64)  were  in  the  following  words: 

Whereas,  The  President  of  the  United  States,  in  his 
message  of  May  11,  1846,  has  declared  that  "the  Mexican 
Government  not  only  refused  to  receive  him  (the  envoy 
of  the  United  States),  or  listen  to  his  propositions,  but,  after 
a  long-continued  series  of  menaces,  has  at  last  invaded  our 
territory,  and  shed  the  blood  of  our  fellow-citizens  on  our 
own  soil." 

And  again,  in  liis  message  of  December  8,  1846,  that 
"We  had  ample  cause  of  war  against  Mexico  long  before 
the  breaking  out  of  hostilities ;  but  even  then  we  forbore  to 
take  redress  into  our  own  hands  until  Mexico  herself 
became  the  aggressor,  by  invading  our  soil  in  hostile  array, 
and  shedding  the  blood  of  our  citizens:" 

And  yet  again,  in  his  message  of  December  7,  1847,  that 
"The  Mexican  Government  refused  even  to  hear  the  terms 


66  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

of  adjustment  which  he  (our  minister  of  peace)  was  author- 
ized to  propose,  and  finally,  under  wholly  unjustifiable 
pretexts,  involved  the  two  countries  in  war,  by  invading  the 
territory  of  the  State  of  Texas,  striking  the  first  blow  and 
shedding  the  blood  of  our  citizens  on  our  own  soil:"  and. 

Whereas,  This  House  is  desirous  to  obtain  a  full 
knowledge  of  all  the  facts  which  go  to  establish  whether 
the  particular  spot  on  which  the  blood  of  our  citizens  was  so 
shed  was  or  was  not  at  that  time  "oiu-  own  soil:"  therefore, 

Resolved  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  That  the 
President  of  the  United  States  be  respectfully  requested 
to  inform  this  House — 

1st.  Whether  the  spot  on  wh'ch  the  blood  of  our 
citizens  was  shed,  as  in  his  message  declared,  was  or  was 
not  within  the  territory  of  Spain,  at  least  after  the  treaty 
of  1819,  until  the  Mexican  revolution. 

2d.  Whether  that  spot  is  or  is  not  within  the  territory 
which  was  wrested  from  Spain  by  the  revolutionary  gov- 
ernment of  Mexico. 

3d.  Whether  that  spot  is  or  is  not  within  a  settlement 
of  people,  which  settlement  has  existed  ever  since  long 
before  the  Texas  revolution,  and  until  its  inhabitants  fled 
before  the  approach  of  the  United  States  army. 

4th.  Whether  that  settlement  is  or  is  not  isolated  from 
any  and  all  other  settlements  by  the  Gulf  and  the  Rio 
Grande  on  the  south  and  west,  and  by  wide  uninhabited 
regions  on  the  north  and  east. 

5th.  Whether  the  people  of  that  settlement,  or  a  ma- 
jority of  them,  or  any  of  them,  have  ever  submitted  them- 
selves to  the  government  or  laws  of  Texas  or  of  the  United 
States,  by  consent  or  by  compulsion,  either  by  accepting 
office,  or  voting  at  elections,  or  paying  tax,  or  ser\'ing  on 
juries,  or  having  process  served  on  them,  or  in  any  other 
way. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  67 

6th.  Whether  the  people  of  that  settlement  did  or  did 
not  flee  from  the  approach  of  the  United  States  army, 
leaving  unprotected  their  homes  and  their  growing  crops, 
before  the  blood  was  shed,  as  in  the  messages  stated;  and 
whether  the  first  blood  so  shed,  was  or  was  not  shed  within 
the  inclosure  of  one  of  the  people  who  had  thus  fled  from  it. 

7th.  Whether  our  citizens,  whose  blood  was  shed,  as  in 
liis  messages  declared,  were  or  were  not,  at  that  time, 
armed  officers  and  soldiers,  sent  into  that  settlement  by  the 
military  order  of  the  President,  through  the  Secretary  of 
War. 

8th.  Whether  the  military  force  of  the  United  States 
was  or  was  not  so  sent  into  that  settlement  after  General 
Taylor  had  more  than  once  intimated  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment that,  in  his  opinion,  no  such  movement  was  neces- 
sary to  the  defense  or  protection  of  Texas. 

These  resolutions  were  laid  over,  under  the  rule.  Many 
other  propositions,  embracing  the  substance  of  this  ques- 
tion were  also  brought  before  the  house,  besides  Mr. 
Richardson's,  which  ultimately  failed.  Mr.  Lincoln 
did  not  call  up  Ms  resolutions,  nor  were  they  acted  upon; 
but  he  commented  upon  them  in  a  speech  subsequently 
made. 

On  the  same  day  almost  immediately  following  the 
above  action,  joint  resolutions  of  thanks  to  General 
Zachary  Taylor  and  our  troops  in  Mexico,  having  been 
offered,  an  amendment  was  proposed  by  Mr.  Henley,  a 
Democratic  member  from  Indiana,  as  an  adroit  political 
maneuver,  by  which  it  was  designed  to  secure  an  in- 
dorsement of  the  war  from  the  Whigs,  or  a  refusal  of  the 
vote  of  thanks.  He  moved  the  addition  of  this  clause  to 
the  resolutions:  "engaged,  as  they  were,  in  defending  the 
rights  and  honor  of  the  nation."  As  an  amendment  to 
the  amendment,  in  order  to  defeat  its  underhand  purpose, 


G8  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Mr.  Ashmun  promptly  moved  to  add  the  words:  "In  a 
war  unnecessarily  and  unconstitutionally  begun  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States, "  Mr.  Lincoln  voted  for 
Ashmun's  amendment  to  Henley's  amendment.  So  also 
did  Messrs.  Clingman  and  Barringer,  of  North  Carolina; 
A.  H.  Stephens,  Robert  Toombs  and  Thomas  Butler  King, 
of  Georgia;  Goggiij,  of  Virginia;  Gentry,  of  Tennessee ;  and 
a  majority  of  all  those  voting.  The  object  intended,  of 
defeating  the  brilliant  movement  of  Mr.  Henley,  was 
accomplished.  The  amendment,  as  amended,  was  not 
carried.  The  resolutions  in  their  original  shape,  were  sub- 
sequentty  re-introduced  by  Mr.  Stephens,  and  adopted 
without  opposition.     (Congressional  Globe,  page  304.) 

On  the  12th  day  of  January,  1848,  Mr.  Lincoln  expressed 
liis  views,  frankly  and  fully,  in  regard  to  the  war  With 
Mexico.  It  was  the  first  speech  made  by  Mr.  Lincoln  in 
Congress,  and  is  subjoined  entire,  as  reported  in  the  Ap- 
pencUx  to  the  Congressional  Globe  [1st  session,  30th  Con- 
gress, page  93]: 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Speech  on  the  Mexican  War. 
(In  Committee  of  the  Whole  House,  January  12, 1848.) 

Mr.  Lincoln  addressed  the  Committee  as  follows: 
Mr.  Chairman  :  Some,  if  not  all,  of  the  gentlemen  on  the 
other  side  of  the  House,  who  have  addressed  the  Com- 
mittee within  the  last  two  days,  have  spoken  rather  com- 
plainingly,  if  I  have  rightly  understood  them,  of  the  vote 
given  a  week  or  ten  days  ago,  declaring  that  the  war  with 
Mexico  was  unnecessarily  and  unconstitutionally  com- 
menced by  the  President.  I  admit  that  such  a  vote  should 
not  be  given  in  mere  party  wantonness,  and  that  the  one 
given  is  justly  censurable,  if  it  have  no  other  or  better 
foundation.    I  am  one  of  those  who  joined  in  that  vote; 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


69 


and  did  so  under  my  best  impression  of  the  truth  of  the 
case.  How  I  got  this  impression,  and  how  it  may  possibly 
be  removed  I  will  now  try  to  show.  When  the  war  began, 
it  was  my  opinion  that  all  those  who,  because  of  Icnowing 
too  little,  or  because  of  knowing  too  much,  could  not  con- 
scientiously approve  the  conduct  of  the  President  (in  the 
beginning  of  it),  should,  nevertheless,  as  good  citizens  and 
patriots,  remain  silent  on  that  point,  at  least  till  the  war 
should  be  ended.  Some  leacUng  Democrats,  including 
ex-President  Van  Buren,  have  taken  this  same  view,  as  I 
understand  them;  and  I  adhered  to  it,  and  acted  upon  it, 
until  since  I  took  my  seat  here;  and  I  think  I  should  still 
adhere  to  it,  were  it  not  that  the  President  and  his  friends 
will  not  allow  it  to  be  so.  Besides,  the  continual  effort  of 
the  President  to  argue  every  silent  vote  given  for  supplies 
into  an  indorsement  of  the  justice  and  wisdom  of  his 
conduct;  besides  that  singularly  candid  paragraph  in  his 
late  message,  in  wliich  he  tells  us  that  Congress  with  great 
unanimity  (only  two  in  the  Senate  and  fourteen  in  the 
House  dissenting)  had  declared  that  "by  the  act  of  the 
Republic  of  Mexico  a  state  of  war  exists  between  that 
Government  and  the  United  States;"  when  the  same 
journals  that  informed  him  of  this,  also  informed  him  that 
when  that  declaration  stood  disconnected  from  the  ques- 
tion of  supplies,  sixty-seven  in  the  House,  and  not  fourteen 
merely,  voted  against  it;  besides  this  open  attempt  to 
prove  by  telling  the  truth,  what  he  could  not  prove  by 
telling  the  whole  truth,  demanding  of  all  who  will  not  sub- 
mit to  be  misrepresented,  in  justice  to  themselves,  to 
speak  out;  besides  all  this,  one  of  my  colleagues  (Mr. 
Richardson),  at  a  very  early  day  in  the  session,  brought 
in  a  set  of  resolutions,  expressly  indorsing  the  original 
justice  of  the  war  on  the  part  of  the  President.  Upon 
these  resolutions,  when  they  shall  be  put  upon  their  passage 


70 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


I  shall  be  compelled  to  vote;  so  that  I  cannot  be  silent 
if  I  would.  Seeing  this,  I  went  about  preparing  myself  to 
give  the  vote  understandingly,  when  it  should  come.  I 
carefully  examined  the  President's  messages,  to  ascertain 
what  he  himself  had  said  and  proved  upon  the  point.  The 
result  of  this  examination  was  to  make  the  impression, 
that,  taking  for  true  all  the  President  states  as  facts,  he 
falls  far  short  of  proving  his  justification;  and  that  the 
President  would  have  gone  farther  with  his  proof,  if  it  had 
not  been  for  the  small  matter  that  the  truth  would  not 
permit  him.  Under  the  impression  thus  made  I  gave  the 
vote  before  mentioned.  I  propose  now  to  give,  concisely,  the 
process  of  the  examination  I  made,  and  how  I  reached  the 
conclusion  I  did. 

The  president,  in  his  first  message  of  May,  1846,  declares 
that  the  soil  was  ours  on  which  hostilities  were  commenced 
by  Mexico,  and  he  repeats  that  declaration,  almost  in  the 
same  language,  in  each  successive  annual  message — thus 
showing  that  he  esteems  that  point  a  higlily  essential  one. 
In  the  importance  of  that  point  I  entirely  agree  with  the 
President.  To  my  judgment  it  is  the  very  point  upon 
which  he  should  be  justified  or  condemmed.  In  his  message 
of  December,  1846,  it  seems  to  have  occurred  to  him,  as 
is  certainly  true,  that  title  ownersliip  to  soil,  or  to  any- 
thing else,  is  not  a  simple  fact,  but  is  a  conclusion  following 
one  or  more  simple  facts,  and  that  it  was  incumbent  upon 
him  to  present  the  facts  from  wliich  he  concluded  the  soil 
was  ours  on  wliich  the  first  blood  of  the  war  was  shed. 

Accordingly,  a  little  below  the  middle  of  page  twelve  in 
the  message  last  referred  to,  he  enters  upon  that  task ;  form- 
ing an  issue  and  introducing  testimony,  extending  the 
■whole  to  a  little  below  the  middle  of  page  fourteen.  Now, 
I  propose  to  try  to  show  that  the  whole  of  this — issue  and 
evidence — is,  from  beginning  to  end,  the  sheerest  decep- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  71 

tion.  The  issue,  as  he  presents  it,  is  in  these  words:  "but 
there  are  those  who,  conceding  all  this  to  be  true,  assume 
the  ground  that  the  true  western  boundary  of  Texas  is  the 
Nueces,  instead  of  the  Rio  Grande;  and  that,  therefore, 
in  marching  our  army  to  the  east  bank  of  the  latter  river, 
we  passed  the  Texan  Hne,  and  invaded  the  territory  of 
Mexico. "  Now,  this  issue  is  made  up  of  two  aflfirmatives 
and  no  negatives.  The  main  deception  of  it  is,  that  it 
assumes  as  true  that  one  river  or  the  other  is  necessarily 
the  boundary,  and  cheats  the  superficial  thinker  entirely 
out  of  the  idea  that  possibly  the  boundary  is  somewhere 
between  the  two,  and  not  actually  at  either.  A  further 
deception  is,  that  it  will  let  in  evidence  which  a  true  issue 
would  exclude.  A  true  issue  made  by  the  President  would 
be  about  as  follows:  "  I  say  the  soil  was  ours  on  which  the 
first  blood  was  shed;  there  are  those  who  say  it  was  not. " 
I  now  proceed  to  examine  the  President's  evidence,  as 
applicable  to  such  an  issue.  When  that  evidence  is  ana- 
lyzed, it  is  all  included  in  the  following  propositions: 
'  1.  That  the  Rio  Grande  was  the  western  boundary  of 
Louisiana,  as  we  purchased  it  from  France  in  1803. 

2.  That  the  Republic  of  Texas  always  claimed  the 
Rio  Grande  as  her  western  boundary. 

3.  That  by  various  acts,  she  had  claimed  it  on  paper. 

4.  That  Santa  Anna,  in  his  treaty  with  Texas,  recog- 
nized the  Rio  Grande  as  her  boundary. 

5.  That  Texas  before,  and  the  United  States  after,  an- 
nexation, had  exercised  jurisdiction  beyond  the  Nueces, 
between  the  two  rivers. 

6.  That  our  Congress  understood  the  boundary  of  Texas 
to  extend  beyond  the  Nueces. 

Now  for  each  of  these  in  its  turn. 

His  first  item  is,  that  the  Rio  Grande  was  the  western 
boundary  of  Louisiana,  as  we  purchased  it  of  France  in 


72  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

1803;  and,  seeming  to  expect  this  to  be  disputed,  he 
argues  over  the  amount  of  nearly  a  page  to  prove  it  true ; 
at  the  end  of  which,  he  lets  us  know  that,  by  the  treaty  of 
1819,  we  sold  to  Spain  the  whole  country,  from  the  Rio 
Grande  eastward  to  the  Sabine.  Now,  admitting  for  the 
present,  that  the  Rio  Grande  was  the  boundary  of  Louisiana 
what,  imder  heaven,  had  that  to  do  with  the  present 
boundary  between  us  and  ]\Iexico?  How,  Mr.  Chairman, 
the  Une  that  once  divided  your  land  from  mine  can  still 
be  the  boundary  between  us  after  I  have  sold  my  land  to 
you,  is,  to  me,  beyond  all  comprehension.  And  how  any 
man,  with  an  honest  purpose  only  of  proving  the  truth, 
could  ever  have  thought  of  introducing  such  a  fact  to  prove 
such  an  issue,  is  equally  incomprehensible.  The  outrage 
upon  common  right,  of  seizing  as  our  own  what  we  have 
once  sold,  merely  because  it  was  ours  before  we  sold  it,  is 
only  equalled  by  the  outrage  on  common  sense  of  any 
attempt  to  justify  it. 

The  President's  next  piece  of  evidence  is,  that  "The 
RepubUc  of  Texas  always  claimed  this  river  (Rio  Grande) 
as  her  western  boundary."  That  is  not  true,  in  fact. 
Texas  has  claimed  it,  but  she  has  not  always  claimed  it. 
There  is,  at  least,  one  distinguished  exception.  Her  State 
Constitution — the  public's  most  solemn  and  well-con- 
sidered act;  that  wliich  may,  ^vithout  impropriety,  be 
called  her  last  wall  and  testament,  revoking  all  others — 
make  no  such  claim.  But  suppose  she  had  always  claimed 
it?  Has  not  Mexico  always  claimed  the  contrary?  So 
that  there  is  but  claim  against  claim,  leaving  nothing 
proved  until  we  get  back  of  the  claims,  and  find  wliich  has 
the  better  foundation. 

Though  not  in  the  order  in  which  the  President  presents 
liis  evidence,  I  now  consider  that  class  of  his  statements, 
which  are,  in  substance,  nothing  more  than  that  Texas 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  •  73 

has,  by  various  acts  of  her  Convention  and  Congress, 
claimed  the  Rio  Grande  as  her  boundary — on  paper.  I 
mean  here  what  he  says  about  the  fixing  of  the  Rio  Grande 
as  her  boundary,  in  her  own  Constitution  (not  her  State 
Constitution),  about  forming  congressional  districts,  coun- 
ties, etc.  Now,  all  this  is  but  naked  claim;  and  what  I 
have  already  said  about  claims  is  strictly  applicable  to  this. 
If  I  should  claim  your  land  by  word  of  mouth,  that  certainly 
would  not  make  it  mine,  and  if  I  were  to  claim  it  by  a 
deed  which  I  had  made  myself,  and  with  which  you  had 
nothing  to  do,  the  claim  would  be  quite  the  same  in  sub- 
stance, or  rather  in  utter  nothingness. 

I  next  consider  -the  President's  statement  that  Santa 
Anna,  in  his  treaty  with  Texas,  recognized  the  Rio  Grande 
as  the  Western  boundary  of  Texas.  Besides  the  position 
so  often  taken,  that  Santa  Anna,  while  a  prisoner  of  war — 
a  captive — could  not  bind  Mexico  by  a  treaty,  which  I  deem 
conclusive;  besides  this;  I  wish  to  say  something  in  rela- 
tion to  this  treaty,  so  called  by  the  President,  wi1,h  Santa 
Anna.  If  any  man  would  like  to  be  amused  by  a  sight  at 
that  little  thing,  wliich  the  President  calls  by  that  hig  name, 
he  can  have  it  by  turning  to  Nile's  register,  volume  50, 
page  336.  And  if  any  one  should  suppose  that  Niles' 
Register  is  a  curious  repository  of  so  mighty  a  document 
as  a  solemn  treaty  between  nations,  I  can  only  say  that  I 
learned,  to  a  tolerable  degree  of  certainty,  by  inquiry  at 
the  State  Department,  that  the  President  himself  never 
saw  it  anywhere  else.  By  the  way,  I  believe,  I  should  not 
err  if  I  were  to  declare,  that  during  the  first  ten  years  of 
the  existence  of  that  document,  it  was  never  by  anybody 
called  a  treaty;  that  it  was  never  so  called  till  the  President, 
in  his  extremity,  attempted,  by  so  calling  it,  to  wring 
something  from  it  in  justification  to  himself  in  connection 
with  the  Mexican  war.     It  has  none  of  the  distinguishing 


74  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

features  of  a  treaty.  It  does  not  call  itself  a  treaty.  Santa 
Anna  does  not  therein  assume  to  bind  Mexico;  he  assumes 
only  to  act  as  President,  Commander  in-Chief  of  the  Mexi- 
can army  and  navy;  stipulates  that  the  then  present  hos- 
tilities should  cease,  and  that  he  would  not  himself  take 
up  arms,  nor  influence  the  Mexican  people  to  take  up  arms, 
against  Texas,  during  the  existence  of  the  war  of  Indepen- 
dence. He  did  not  recognize  the  independence  of  Texas, 
he  did  not  assume  to  put  an  end  to  the  war,  but  clearly 
indicated  his  expectation  of  its  continuance;  he  did  not  say 
one  word  about  boundary,  and  most  probably  never 
thought  of  it.  It  is  stipulated  therein,  that  the  Mexican 
forces  should  evacuate  the  territory  of  Texas,  'passing  to 
the  other  side  of  the  Rio  Grande;  and  in  another  article  it  is 
stipulated,  that  to  prevent  collisions  between  the  armies, 
the  Texan  army  should  not  approach  nearer  than  within 
five  leagues — of  what  is  not  said — but  clearly,  from  the 
object  stated,  it  is  of  the  Rio  Grande.  Now,  if  this  is  a 
treaty  recognizing  the  Rio  Grande  as  the  boundary  of 
Texas,  it  contains  the  singular  feature  of  stipulating  that 
Texas  shall  not  go  within  five  leagues  of  Jier  own  boundary. 
Next  comes  the  evidence  of  Texas  before  annexation, 
and  the  United  States  afterward,  exercising  jurisdiction 
beyond  the  Nueces,  and  between  the  two  rivers.  This 
actual  exercise  of  jurisdiction  is  the  very  class  or  quality  of 
evidence  we  want.  It  is  excellent  so  far  as  it  goes;  but 
does  it  go  far  enough?  He  tells  us  it  went  beyond  the 
Nueces,  but  he  does  not  tell  us  it  went  to  the  Rio  Grande. 
He  tells  us  jurisdiction  was  exercised  between  the  two  rivers, 
but  he  does  not  tell  us  it  was  exercised  over  all  the  territory 
between  them.  Some  simple-minded  people  think  it 
possible  to  cross  one  river  and  go  beyond  it,  without  going 
all  the  way  to  the  next;  that  jurisdiction  may  be  exer- 
cized between  two  rivers  without  covering  all  the  country 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


75 


between  them.  I  know  a  man,  not  very  unlike  myself, 
who  exercises  jurisdiction  over  a  piece  of  land  between  the 
Wabash  and  the  Mississippi;  and  yet  so  far  is  tliis  from 
being  all  there  is  between  those  rivers,  that  it  is  just  one 
hundred  and  fifty-two  feet  long  by  fifty  wide,  and  no  part 
of  it  much  within  a  hundred  miles  of  either.  He  has  a 
neighbor  between  him  and  the  Mississippi— that  is,  just 
across  the  street,  in  that  direction— whom,  I  am  sure,  he 
could  neither  persuade  nor  force  to  give  up  his  habitation ; 
but  which,  nevertheless,  he  could  certainly  armex,  if  it 
were  to  be  done,  by  merely  stancUng  on  his  own  side  of  the 
street  and  claiming  it,  or  even  sitting  down  and  writing 
a  deed  for  it. 

But  next,  the  President  tells  us  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  understood  the  State  of  Texas  they  admitted 
into  the  Union  to  extend  beyond  the  Nueces.  Well,  I  sup- 
pose they  did— I  certainly  so  understand  it— but  how  far 
beyond?  That  Congress  did  not  understand  it  to  extend 
clear  to  the  Rio  Grande,  is  quite  certain  by  the  fact  of  their 
joint  resolutions  for  admission,  expressly  leaving  all  ques- 
tions of  boundary  to  futiu-e  adjustment.  And,  it  may  be 
added,  that  Texas  herself  is  proved  to  have  had  the  same 
understanding  of  it  that  our  Congress  had,  by  the  fact  of  the 
exact  conformity  of  ther  new  Constitution  to  those  reso- 
lutions. 

I  am  now  through  the  whole  of  the  President's  evidence; 
and  it  is  a  singular  fact,  that  if  any  one  should  declare  the 
President  sent  the  army  into  the  midst  of  a  settlement  of 
Mexican  people,  who  had  never  submitted,  by  consent  or 
by  force  to  the  authority  of  Texas  or  of  the  United  States, 
and  that  there,  and  thereby,  the  first  blood  of  the  war  was 
shed,  there  is  not  one  word  in  all  the  President  has  said 
which  would  either  admit  or  deny  the  declaration.  In  this 
strange  omission  chiefly  consists  the  deception  of  the  Presi- 


76  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

dent's  evidence — an  omission  which,  it  does  seem  to  me, 
could  scarcely  have  occurred  but  by  design.  My  way  of 
living  leads  me  to  be  about  the  courts  of  justice;  and  there 
I  have  sometimes  seen  a  good  lawyer  struggling  for  his 
client's  neck,  in  a  desperate  case,  emplojdng  every  artifice 
to  work  round,  befog,  and  cover  up  with  many  words  some 
position  pressed  upon  him  by  the  prosecution,  which  he 
dared  not  admit,  and  yet  could  not  deny.  Party  bias  may 
help  to  make  it  appear  so;  but  with  all  the  allowance  I 
can  make  for  such  bias,  it  still  does  appear  to  me  that  just 
such,  and  from  just  such  necessity,  are  the  President's 
struggles  in  this  case. 

Some  time  after  my  colleague  (Mr.  Richardson)  intro- 
duced the  resolutions  I  have  mentioned,  I  introduced  a 
preamble,  resolution,  and  interrogatories,  intended  to 
draw  the  President  out,  if  possible,  on  this  hitherto  un- 
trodden ground.  To  show  their  relevancy,  I  proposed  to 
state  my  understanding  of  the  true  rule  for  ascertaining  the 
boundary  between  Texas  and  Mexico.  It  is,  that  vJierever 
Texas  was  exercising  jurisdiction  was  heT»;  and  wherever 
Mexico  was  exercising  jurisdiction  was  hers;  and  that 
whatever  separated  the  actual  exercise  of  jurisdiction  of  the 
one  from  that  of  the  other,  was  the  true  boundary  between 
them.  If,  as  is  probably  true,  Texas  was  exercising  jurisdic- 
tion along  the  western  bank  of  the  Nueces,  and  Mexico 
was  exercising  it  along  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande, 
then  neither  river  was  the  boimdary,  but  the  uninhabited 
country  between  the  two  was.  The  extent  of  our  territory 
in  that  region  depended  not  on  any  treaty-fixed  boundary 
(for  no  treaty  had  attempted  it),  but  on  revolution.  Any 
people  anywhere,  being  inclined  and  having  the  power, 
have  the  right  to  rise  up  and  shake  off  the  existing  govern- 
ment, and  form  a  new  one  that  suits  them  better.  This 
is  a  most  valuable,  a  most  sacred  right — a  right  which,  we 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  77 

hope  and  believe,  is  to  liberate  the  world.  Nor  is  this 
right  confined  to  cases  in  wliich  the  whole  people  of  an 
existing  government  may  choose  to  exercise  it.  Any  por- 
tion of  such  people  that  can  may  revolutionize,  and  make 
their  own  of  so  much  of  the  territory  as  they  inhabit. 
More  than  this,  a  majority  of  any  portion  of  such  people 
may  revolutionize,  putting  down  a  minority,  intermingled 
with,  or  near  about  them,  who  may  oppose  their  move- 
ments. Such  minority  was  precisely  the  case  of  the 
Tories  of  our  own  Revolution.  It  is  a  quaUty  of  revolu- 
tions not  to  go  by  old  lines,  or  old  laws;  but  to  break  up 
both,  and  make  up  new  ones.  As  to  the  country  now  in 
question,  we  bought  it  of  France  in  1803,  and  sold  it  to 
Spain  in  1819,  according  to  the  President's  statement. 
After  this,  all  Mexico,  including  Texas,  revolutionized 
against  Spain ;  and  still  later,  Texas  revolutionized  against 
Mexico.  In  my  view,  just  so  far  as  she  carried  her  revolu- 
tion, by  obtaining  the  actual,  willing  or  unwilling  submis- 
sion of  the  people,  so  far  the  country  was  hers,  and  no 
further. 

Now,  sir,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  very  best  evi- 
dence as  to  whether  Texas  had  actually  carried  her  revolu- 
tion to  a  place  where  the  hostilities  of  the  present  war  com- 
menced, let  the  President  answer  the  interrogatories  I 
proposed,  as  before  mentioned,  or  some  other  similar  ones. 
Let  him  answer  fully,  fairly  and  candidly.  Let  him  an- 
swer with  facts,  and  not  with  arguments.  Let  liim  re- 
member he  sits  where  Washington  sat;  and  so  remember- 
ing, let  him  answer  as  Washington  would  answer.  As  a 
nation  should  not,  and  the  Ahnighty  will  not,  be  evaded,  so 
let  him  attempt  no  evasion,  no  equivocation.  And  if,  so 
answering,  he  can  show  that  the  soil  was  ours  where  the 
first  blood  of  the  war  was  shed — that  it  was  not  within  an 
inhabited  country,  or,  if  within  such,  that  the  inhabitants 


78  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

had  submitted  themselves  to  the  civil  authority  of  Texas, 
or  of  the  United  States,  and  that  the  same  is  true  of  the 
site  of  Fort  Brown — then  I  am  with  him  for  his  justification. 
In  that  case,  I  shall  be  most  happy  to  reverse  the  vote  I 
gave  the  other  day.  I  have  a  selfish  motive  for  desiring 
that  the  President  may  do  tliis;  I  expect  to  give  some 
votes,  in  connection  with  the  war,  wliich,  without  his  so 
doing,  will  be  of  doubtful  propriety  in  my  own  judgment, 
but  which  will  be  free  from  the  doubt,  if  he  does  so.  But 
if  he  can  not  or  will  not  do  this — if,  on  any  pretense,  or  no 
pretense,  he  shall  refuse  or  omit  it — then  I  shall  be  fully 
convinced,  of  what  I  more  than  suspect  already,  that  he 
is  deeply  conscious  of  being  in  the  wrong;  that  he  feels  the 
blood  of  tins  war,  like  the  blood  of  Abel,  is  crying  to  heaven 
against  liim;  that  he  ordered  General  Taylor  into  the 
midst  of  a  peaceful  Mexican  settlement,  purposely  to  bring 
on  a  war;  that  originally  having  some  strong  motive — 
what  I  will  not  stop  now  to  give  my  opinion  concerning — 
to  involve  the  two  countries  in  a  war,  and  trusting  to  es- 
cape scrutiny  by  fixing  the  public  gaze  upon  the  exceeding 
brightness  of  military  glory — that  attractive  rainbow  that 
rises  in  showers  of  blood — that  serpent's  eye  that  charms 
to  destroy — he  plunged  into  it,  and  has  swept  on  and  on, 
till,  disappointed  in  his  calculation  of  the  ease  with  which 
Mexico  might  be  subdued,  he  now  finds  himself  he  knows 
not  where.  How  like  the  half  insane  mumbling  of  a  fever 
dream  is  the  whole  war  part  of  the  late  message !  At  one 
time  telling  us  that  Mexico  has  notliing  whatever  that  we 
can  get  but  territory ;  at  another,  showing  us  how  we  can 
support  the  war  by  levying  contributions  on  Mexico.  At 
one  time  urging  the  national  honor,  the  security  of  tlie 
future,  the  prevention  of  foreign  interference,  and  even  the 
good  of  Mexico  herself,  as  among  the  objects  of  the  war; 
at  another,  telUng  us  that,  "to  reject  indemnity  by  refus- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  79 

ing  to  accept  a  cession  of  territory,  would  be  to  abandon  all 
our  just  demands,  and  to  wage  the  war,  bearing  all  its  ex- 
penses, without  a  purpose  or  definite  object. "  So,  then,  the 
national  honor,  security  of  the  future,  and  ever)d;hing  but 
territorial  indemnity,  may  be  coiisidered  the  no  purposes 
and  indefinite  objects  of  the  war!  But  having  it  now 
settled  that  territorial  indemnity  is  the  only  object,  we  are 
urged  to  seize  by  legislation  here,  all  that  he  was  content  to 
take  a  few  months  ago,  and  the  whole  province  of  Lower 
CaUfornia  to  boot,  and  to  still  carry  on  the  war — to  take 
all  we  are  fighting  for,  and  still  fight  on.  Again,  the  Presi- 
dent is  resolved,  under  all  circumstances,  to  have  full  terri- 
torial indemnity  for  the  expenses  of  the  war;  but  he  forgets 
to  tell  us  how  we  are  to  get  the  excess  after  those  expenses 
shall  have  surpassed  the  value  of  the  whole  of  the  Mexican 
territory.  So,  again,  he  insists  that  the  separate  national 
existence  of  Mexico  shall  be  maintained;  but  he  does  not 
tell  us  how  this  can  be  done  after  we  have  taken  all  her 
territory.  Lest  the  questions  I  here  suggest  be  considered 
speculative  merely,  let  me  be  indulged  a  moment  in  trying 
to  show  they  are  not. 

The  war  has  gone  on  some  twenty  months;  for  the  ex- 
penses of  which,  together  with  an  inconsiderable  old  score, 
the  President  now  claims  about  one-half  of  the  Mexican 
territory,  and  that  by  far  the  better  half,  so  far  as  concerns 
our  ability  to  make  anytliing  out  of  it.  It  is  comparatively 
uninhabited;  so  that  we  could  establish  land  offices  in  it, 
and  raise  some  money  in  that  way  But  the  other  half 
is  already  inhabited,  as  I  understand  it,  tolerably  densely 
for  the  nature  of  the  country;  and  all  its  lands,  or  all  that 
are  valuable,  already  appropriated  as  private  property. 
How,  then,  are  we  to  make  anything  out  of  these  lands 
with  this  incumbrance  upon  them,  or  how  remove  the  in- 
cumbrance?   I  suppose  no  one  will  say  we  should  kill  the 


80  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

people,  or  drive  them  out,  or  make  slaves  of  them,  or  even 
confiscate  their  property!  How,  then,  can  we  make  much 
out  of  this  part  of  the  territory?  If  the  prosecution  of  the 
war  has,  in  expenses,  already  equaled  the  better  half  of  the 
country,  how  long  its  future  prosecution  will  be  in  equahng 
the  less  valuable  half  is  not  a  speculative  but  a  practical 
question,  pressing  closely  upon  us ;  and  yet  it  is  a  question 
which  the  President  seems  never  to  have  thought  of. 

As  to  the  mode  of  terminating  the  war  and  securing 
peace,  the  President  is  equally  wandering  and  indefinite. 
First,  it  is  to  be  done  by  a  more  vigorous  prosecution  of  the 
war  in  the  vital  parts  of  the  enemy's  country;  and,  after 
apparently  talking  himself  tired  upon   this    point,    the 
President  drops  down  into   a  half-despairing  lone,  and 
tells  us  that,  "with  a  people  distracted  and  cU\'ided  by 
contending  factions,  and  a  government  subject  to  constant 
changes;  by  successive  revolutions,  the  continued  success  of 
our  arms  may  jail  to  ohtaiii  a  satisfactory  peace. "    Then  he 
suggests  the  propriety  of  wheedling  the  Mexican  people 
to  desert  the  counsels  of  their  own  leaders,  and,  trusting 
in  our  protection,  to  set  up  a  government  from  which  we 
can  secure  a  satisfactory  peace,  telling  us  that  "  this  may 
become  the  only  mode  of  obtaining  such  a  peace. "    But  soon 
he  falls  into  doubt  of  this,  too,  and  then  drops  back  on  to 
the  already  half-abandoned  ground  of  "more  \-igorous 
prosecution. "    All  this  shows  that  the  President  is  in  no 
wise  satisfied  with  his  oasti   positions.     First,   he  takes 
up  one,  and,  in  attempting  to  argue  us  into  it,  he  argues 
himself  out  of  it;  then  seizes  another,  and  goes  through  the 
same  process;  and  then,  confused  at  being  able  to  think 
of  nothing  new,  he  snatches  up  the  old  one  again,  which 
he  has  some  time  before  cast  off.     His  mind,  tasked  be- 
yond its  power,  is  running  hither  and  thither,  Hke  some 
tortured  creature  on  a  burning  surface,  finding  no  position 
on  which  it  can  settle  dowm  and  be  at  ease. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  81 

Again,  it  is  a  singular  omission  in  tiiis  message  that  it 
nowhere  intimates  when  the  President  expects  the  war  to 
terminate.  At  its  beginning,  General  Scott  was,  by  this 
same  •  President,  driven  into  disfavor,  if  not  disgrace,  for 
intimating  that  peace  could  not  be  conquered  in  less  than 
three  or  four  months.  But  now  at  the  end  of  about  twenty 
months,  during  which  time  our  arms  have  given  us  the 
most  splendid  successes — every  department,  and  every 
part,  land  and  water,  officers  and  privates,  regulars  and 
volunteers,  doing  all  that  men  could  do,  and  hundreds 
of  things  which  it  had  ever  before  been  thought  that  men 
could  not  do;  after  all  this,  this  same  President  gives  us  a 
long  message  without  showing  us  that,  as  to  the  eiid,  he  has 
himself  even  an  imaginary  conception.  As  I  have  before 
said,  he  knows  not  where  he  is.  He  is  a  bewildered,  con- 
founded, and  mis'erably  perplexed  man.  God  grant  he 
may  be  able  to  show  that  there  is  not  something  about  his 
conscience  more  painful  than  all  his  mental  perplexity. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  an  industrious  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Post-offices,  and  Post-roads,  and  thoroughly 
acquainted  himself  with  the  details  of  that  prominent 
branch  of  the  public  service.  On  the  5th  of  January, 
1848,  he  made  a  clear  and  pertinent  speech  in  regard  to  a 
question  of  temporary  interest  which  then  excited  con- 
siderable attention,  the  "Great  Southern  Mail"  contract. 
Some  of  the  Virginia  Whig  members  had  taken  issue  with 
the  Postmaster-General,  in  regard  to  his  action  on  this 
question,  and  there  were  indications  of  an  attempt  to  give 
a  partisan  turn  to  the  affair,  Mr.  Lincoln  sustained  the 
action  of  that  Democratic  official,  insisting  that  his  con- 
struction of  the  law  in  this  instance,  which  was  the  more 
economical,  was  also  the  more  correct  one. 

The  subject  of  internal  improvements,  as  before  indi- 
cated, had  long  been  one  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  had  taken 


82  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

a  special  interest.  In  the  Illinois  Legislature,  he  had 
favored  the  policy  of  developing  the  resources  of  the  State 
by  the  fostering  aid  of  the  local  government,  in  so  far  as 
he  might,  under  the  constant  restraints  of  a  Democratic 
majority.  The  great  River  and  Harbor  Improvement 
Convention,  held  at  Chicago,  not  long  before  the  com- 
mencement of  his  Congressional  Hfe,  he  had  particapated 
in,  as  one  of  its  most  active  and  earnest  members.  A 
brief,  fifteen-minute  speech  of  his  on  that  occasion,  of 
which  there  appears  to  be  no  report  extant,  is  still  remem- 
bered by  many  of  those  who  heard  it,  as  one  of  the  most 
eloquent  and  impressive  efforts  of  that  memorable  con- 
vention, wliich  was  presided  over  by  the  Hon.  Edward 
Bates,  of  St.  Louis.  Aside  from  the  celebrated  speech 
of  the  latter,  a  theme  of  constant  praise  from  that  day 
to  the  present,  no  more  electrifying  address  was  made 
before  the  convention  than  that  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 

The  first  session  of  the  Thirtieth  Congress  was  prolonged 
far  beyond  the  date  of  the  Presidential  nominations  of  1848, 
and  the  canvass  was  actively  carried  on  by  members  on 
the  floor  of  the  House.  Mr.  Lincoln  warmly  sustained 
the  nomination  of  General  Taylor,  and  before  the  adjourn- 
ment of  Congress,  he  made,  in  accordance  with  precedent 
and  general  practice,  one  of  his  characteristic  campaign 
speeches.  He  was  able  to  give  as  well  as  take.  He  said 
some  things  in  a  vein  of  sarastic  humor,  wliich  could  only 
have  been  mistaken  for  actual  bitterness,  by  those  who 
did  not  know  the  really  genial  character  of  the  man.  Argu- 
ment, ridicule  and  illustrative  anecdotes  were  brought  into 
requisition,  with  great  ability  and  unsparing  boldness,  in 
setting  the  real  issues  of  the  canvass,  political  and  personal 
in  what  he  deemed  a  proper  light  before  the  people. 

This  session  of  Congress  came  to  a  close  on  the  14th  day 
of  August.    The  chief  points  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Congres- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  83 

sional  record,  thus  far,  have  been  noticed,  and  his  principal 
speeches  given  at  length.  He  stood  firmly  by  the  side 
of  John  Quincy  Adamg,  in  favor  of  the  unrestricted  right 
of  petition,  as  will  be  seen  by  liis  vote,  among  others, 
against  laying  on  the  table  a  petition  presented  by  Caleb 
B.  Smith  (December  27,  1847),  praying  for  the  abolition 
of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 
He  favored  a  liberal  policy  toward  the  people  in  disposing 
of  the  public  lands,  as  indicated  by  his  imperfectly  reported 
remarks,  (May  11,  1848),  at  the  time  of  the  passing  of  the 
bill  admitting  Wisconsin  into  the  Union  as  a  State.  He 
was  careful  to  scrutinize  particular  claims,  to  satisfy 
Avhich  he  was  asked  to  vote  for  an  appropriation,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  proposition  to  pay  the  Texas  volunteers  for 
lost  horses  (May  4,  1848).  All  his  acts  show  a  purpose  to 
do  his  duty  to  the  country,  no  less  than  to  lais  immediate 
constituents,  without  fear  or  favor. 

After  the  session  closed,  Mr  Lincoln  made  a  visit  to 
New  England,  where  he  delivered  come  effective  campaign 
speeches,  which  were  enthusiastically  received  by  his  large 
audiences,  as  appears  from  the  reports  in  the  journals  of 
those  days,  and  as  will  be  remembered  by  many.  His 
time,  however,  was  chiefly  given,  during  the  Congressional 
recess,  to  the  canvass  in  the  West,  where,  through  the 
personal  strength  of  Mr.  Cass  as  a  Northwestern  man,  the 
contest  was  more  severe  and  exciting  than  in  any  other 
part  of  the  country.  The  final  triumph  of  General  Taylor, 
over  all  the  odds  against  him,  did  much  to  counterbalance, 
in  Mr.  Lincoln's  mind,  the  disheartening  defeat  of  four 
years  previous.  As  before  stated,  he  had  declined  to  be  a 
candidate  for  re-election  to  Congress,  yet  he  had  the  satis- 
faction of  aiding  to  secure,  in  his  own  district,  a  majority 
of  1,500  for  the  Whig  Presidential  candidates. 

Mr.  Lincoln  again  took  his  seat  in  the  House  in  Decem- 


84  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

ber,  on  the  re-assembling  of  the  Thirtieth  Congress  for  its 
second  session.  Coming  between  the  Presidential  election, 
which  had  effected  a  political  revolution,  and  the  inaugura- 
tion of  the  new  Government,  this  session  was  generally  a 
quiet  one,  passing  away  without  any  very  important 
measure  of  general  legislation  being  acted  upon.  A  calm 
had  followed  the  recent  storms.  There  were,  indeed, 
certain  movements  in  regard  to  slavery  and  the  slave-trade 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  which  produced  some  temporary 
excitement,  but  resulted  in  no  serious  commotion.  On 
the  21st  of  December,  Mr.  Gott,  a  representative  from 
New  York,  introduced  a  resolution,  accompanied  by  a 
strong  preamble,  instructing  the  Committee  on  the  District 
of  Columbia  to  report  a  bill  prohibiting  the  slave-trade 
in  the  District.     The  language  used  was  as  follows : 

Whereas,  The  traffic  now  prosecuted  in  this  metropolis 
of  the  Republic  in  human  beings,  as  chattels,  is  contrary 
to  natural  justice  and  the  fundamental  principles  of  our 
political  system,  and  is  notoriously  a  reproach  to  our 
country  throughout  Christendom,  and  a  serious  hindrance 
to  the  progress  of  republican  liberty  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth;    therefore: 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  for  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia be  instructed  to  report  a  bill,  as  soon  as  practicable, 
prohibiting  the  slave-trade  in  said  District. 

Mr.  Haralson,  of  Georgia,  moved  to  lay  the  same  on 
the  table,  and  the  yeas  and  nays  were  taken  on  his  motion. 
Mr.  Lincoln,  Joseph  R.  Ingersoll,  Richard  W.  Thompson, 
and  George  G.  Dunn,  were  nearly  or  quite  the  only  Northern 
Whigs  who  voted  in  the  affirmative.  The  motion  was  lost, 
and  the  resolution,  under  pressure  of  the  previous  question, 
was  adopted,  ninety-eight  to  eighty-eight.  Mr.  Lincoln 
voting  in  the  negative.  A  motion  to  re-consider  this  vote 
came  up  for  action  on  the  27th  of  the  same  month.     A 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  85 

motion  to  lay  on  the  table  the  motion  to  re-consider  having 
been  lost,  (yeas  58,  nays  107,  Mr.  Lincoln  voting  in  the 
negative) ,  the  subject  was  postoned  until  the  10th  of  Jan- 
uary. At  that  date,  Mr.  Lincoln  read  a  substitute  which 
he  proposed  to  offer  for  the  resolution,  in  case  of  a  re-con- 
sideration. This  substitute  contained  the  form  of  a  bill 
enacting  that  no  person  not  already  in  the  District 
should  be  held  in  slavery  therein,  and  providing  for  the 
gradual  emancipation  of  the  slaves  already  within  the 
District,  with  compensation  to  the  owners,  if  a  majority 
of  the  legal  voters  of  the  District  should  assent  to  the  act 
at  an  election  to  be  holden  for  the  purpose.  It  made  an 
exception  of  the  right  of  citizens  of  the  slaveholding  States, 
coming  to  the  District  on  pubhc  business,  "be  attended 
into  and  out  of  said  District,  and  while  there,  by  the  neces- 
sary servants  of  themselves  and  their  families."  These 
were  the  chief  provisions  of  the  measure  contemplated 
by  Mr.  Lincoln,  which  compared  favorably  with  the  act 
prohibiting  the  slave-trade  in  the  District,  included  among 
the  Compromise  measures  of  1850. 

With  the  termination  of  the  Thirtieth  Congress,  by  Con- 
stitutional limitation,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1849,  Mr. 
Lincoln's  career  as  a  Congressman  came  to  a  close.  He 
had  refused  to  be  a  candidate  for  re-election  in  a  district 
that  had  given  liim  over  1,500  majority  in  1846,  and  nearly 
the  same  to  General  Taylor,  as  the  Whig  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  in  1848.  His  name  was  prominently  presented 
for  the  position  of  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land 
OfEce,  under  President  Taylor,  but,  though  he  zealously 
labored  to  bring  in  the  new  Administration,  he  made  no 
complaint,  and  certainly  did  not  afterward  seriously  regret 
that  liis  valued  services  were  not  thus  recognized.  He 
retired  once  more  to  private  life,  renewing  the  professional 
practice,  which  had  been  temporarily  interrupted  by  his 


86  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

public  emplo5mient.  The  duties  of  his  responsible  position 
had  been  discharged  with  assiduity  and  with  fearless  ad- 
herence to  his  convictions  of  right  under  whatever  circum- 
stances. Scarcely  a  list  of  yeas  and  nays  can  be  found, 
for  either  session,  which  does  not  contain  his  name.  He 
was  never  conveniently  absent  on  any  critical  vote.  He 
never  shrank  from  any  responsibility  which  his  sense  of 
justice  impelled  liim  to  take.  His  record,  comparatively 
brief  as  it  is,  is  no  doubtful  one,  and  will  bear  the  closest 
scrutiny.  And,  though  one  of  the  youngest  and  most 
inexperienced  members  of  an  uncommonly  able  and  bril- 
liant Congress,  he  might  well  have  been  ranked,  without 
the  more  recent  events  wliich  have  naturally  followed  upon 
his  previous  career,  among  the  distinguished  statesmen 
of  the  Thirtieth  Congress. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Professional  Life — The  Anti-Nebraskan  Canvass — 
1845-1854. 

During  the  five  years  immediately  following  the  close  of 
his  Congressional  life,  Mr.  Lincoln  attentively  pursued  his 
profession  of  the  law.  He  took  no  active  part  in  politics 
through  the  period  of  General  Taylor's  administration,  or 
in  any  of  the  exciting  scenes  of  1850.  His  great  political 
leader,  Henry  Clay,  had  resumed  liis  place  in  the  Senate, 
and  was  earnestly  striving— one  of  the  last  great  labors  of 
his  life— to  avert  the  dangers  of  the  country,  which  he  be- 
lieved to  be  threatened  by  the  fierce  contests  over  the  ques- 
tions of  salvery.  It  was,  with  the  slave  States,  a  desperate 
struggle  to  retain  the  balance  of  power  in  the  Senate,  by 
rejecting  the  application  of  another  free  State  for  admis- 
sion, the  granting  of  which  would  destroy  the  exact  equilib- 
rium then  existing.  The  policy  of  admitting  a  slave 
State  along  with  every  free  one,  had  substantially  prevailed 
for  years;  but,  at  this  time,  despite  the  extensive  additions 
of  Mexican  territory,  there  was  no  counterbalancing  slave 
State  ready  for  admission.  The  exclusion  of  slavery  from 
California  had,  in  fact,  been  rather  a  surprise,  and  this 
application  was  evidently  still  more  an  irritating  circum- 
stance for  that  reason.  And  yet  this  movement  was  in 
strict  accordance  with  the  policy  of  a  Southern  President. 
As  a  final  result,  the  admission  of  California  was  only  car- 
ried by  means  of  great  counterbalancing  concessions  on  the 

87 


88  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

part  of  the  free  States.  For  months  after  there  was  much 
discontent  in  both  sections,  in  regard  to  the  compromise 
measures  of  1850,  which  were  defeated  in  Congress,  when 
first  acted  upon  as  a  whole,  but  were  ultimately  carried  in 
detail.  It  was  not  until  1852,  when  both  the  great  parties 
of  the  country  agreed  to  accept  those  measures  as  a  "final 
settlement"  of  the  slavery  controversy,  that  public  senti- 
ment. North  and  South,  appeared  to  have  become  fully 
reconciled  to  this  adjustment.  The  Administration, 
brought  into  power  by  the  election  of  that  year,  was  most 
thoroughly  and  sacredly  committed  to  the  maintenance  of 
this  settlement,  and  against  the  revival  of  a  slavery  agita- 
tion in  any  form.  To  introduce  the  subject  under  any  pre- 
tence, into  the  halls  of  Congress,  was  an  act  of  wanton  in- 
cendiarism, in  utter  disregard  of  most  solemn  pledges,  by 
the  aid  of  which  the  Democratic  party  had  secured  whatever 
real  hold  it  had  upon  popular  confidence.  Such  was  the 
state  of  affairs  in  1852,  and  at  the  time  of  j\Ir.  Pierce's  in- 
auguration in  1853. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  as  a  private  citizen,  engrossed  with  his  pro- 
fessional duties,  had  borne  no  part  in  the  original  contro- 
versy, and  had  taken  no  share  in  its  settlement.  Whether 
preferring  the  non-intervention  policy  of  President  Taylor, 
or  the  compromise  course  of  Clay  and  Fillmore,  he  had  un- 
doubtedly regarded  the  peace  established,  by  means  of  the 
latter,  as  one  that  ought  by  all  means  to  be  preserved,  and 
the  pledges  of  both  sections  of  the  country,  through 
the  action  of  both  the  national  parties,  as  religiously  bind- 
ing upon  every  public  man  who  had  openly  or  tacitly 
assented  thereto.  That  he  approved  all  the  details  of  tliis 
compromise  is  not  probable.  But  that,  if  faithfully  ad- 
hered to,  the  practical  results  would  have  been  satisfactory, 
he  was  undoubtedly  convinced. 

The  introduction  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  in  1854, 


Life  op  Abraham  Lincoln. 


89 


in  the  midst  of  this  profound  peace  on  the  slavery  question, 
was  "the  alarm  of  the  fire-bell  at  night"  wliich  startled 
Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  repose  of  his  private  life,  and  showed 
that  the  incendiary  had  but  too  successfully  been  at  his 
work.  The  solemn  pledge  of  peace  had  been  violated  by 
the  very  men  who  were  most  forward  in  making  it,  and 
most  noisy  in  their  professions  of  a  desire  that  the  slavery 
conflict  should  cease. 

These  events  called  forth  Mr'.  Lincoln  once  more  to  do 
battle  for  the  right.  He  entered  into  the  canvass  of  1854, 
as  one  of  the  most  active  leaders  of  the  "Anti-Nebraska" 
movement.  He  addressed  the  people  repeatedly  from  the 
stump,  with  all  his  characteristic  earnestness  and  energy. 
He  met  and  cowed  the  author  of  the  "  Nebraska  iniquity, " 
in  the  presence  of  the  masses,  and  powerfully  aided  in 
effecting  the  remarkable  political  changes  of  that  year  in 
Illinois. 

Mr.  Douglas  visited  several  parts  of  the  State,  vainly 
attempting,  by  ingenious  but  ophistical  addresses  to  the 
people  to  avert  the  impending  revolution.  Mr.  Lincoln 
met  him  in  debate  at  Springfield,  during  the  time  of  the 
State  Fair,  early  in  October,  1854,  and  the  encounter  was 
a  memorable  one  in  the  great  campaign  then  in  progress. 
They  met  a  few  days  later  at  Peoria,  where  Mr.  Douglas 
had  no  better  fortune.  Subsequently  to  that  encounter, 
he  showed  a  decided  preference  for  speaking  at  other  times 
and  places  than  Mr.  Lincoln  did. 

A  United  States  Senator,  to  succeed  General  Shields  on 
the  4th  of  March,  1855,  was  to  be  chosen  by  this  Legisla- 
ture. For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Illinois,  the  elec- 
tion of  an  anti-Democratic  Senator  was  within  the  reach 
of  possibility.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  the  first  choice  of  the 
great  mass  of  the  Opposition  for  this  position.  From  his 
prominence,  for  a  long  time,  in  the  old  Whig  party,  it  was 


90  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

but  natural  that  a  portion  of  the  members  having  Demo- 
cratic antecedents  who  had  come  into  the  new  organization, 
should  hesitate  to  give  Mr.  Lincoln  their  votes.  This  was 
especially  true  of  the  three  Senators  above  named  as  hold- 
ing over,  they  having  been  elected  as  regular  Democrats. 
LTnder  this  state  of  tilings,  it  was  manifest,  after  a  few 
ballots,  that,  with  the  close  vote  in  joint  convention  the 
election  of  a  Democrat,  not  to  be  certainly  relied  on  as  an 
opponent  of  the  Douglas  poUcy,  and  at  best  unconamitted 
in  regard  to  the  new  party  organization,  might  be  the  re- 
sult of  adhering  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  He,  accordingly,  with 
the  self-sacrificing  disposition  which  had  always  charac- 
terized him,  promptly  appealed  to  his  Whig  friends  to  go 
over  in  a  solid  body  to  Mr.  Trumbull,  a  man  of  Democratic 
antecedents,  who  could  command  the  full  vote  of  the  Anti- 
Nebraska  Democrats.  By  these  earnest  and  disinterested 
efforts,  the  difficult  task  was  accomplished,  great  as  was  the 
sacrifice  of  personal  feeling  wliich  it  cost  the  devoted  friends 
of  Mr.  Lincoln.  On  the  part  of  himself  and  them,  it 
involved  the  exercise  of  a  degree  of  self-denial  and  mag- 
nanimity, as  rare  as  it  was  noble.  It  demonstrated  their 
honest  attaclmient  to  the  great  cause  for  which  old  party 
lines  had  been  abandoned,  and  in  their  sincere  purpose  of 
thoroughly  ignoring  all  differences  founded  on  mere  partisan 
prejudice.  It  cemented  the  union  of  these  Anti-Nebraska 
elements,  and  consolidated  the  new  organization  into  a 
permanent  party. 

The  joint  convention  for  electing  a  United  States  Senator 
met  on  the  8th  day  of  February,  1855.  On  the  first  ballot, 
James  Shields,  then  Senator,  who  had  been  induced  by 
Douglas,  against  his  own  better  judgment,  to  vote  for  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  received  41  votes,  and  three  other 
Democrats  had  one  vote  each.  Abraham  Lincoln  had  45 
votes,  Lyman  Trumbull  5,  Mr.  Koerner  2,  and  there  were 


Life  or  Abraham  Lincoln.  91 

three  other  scattering  votes.  On  the  seventh  ballot,  the 
Democratic  vote  was  concentrated  upon  Governor  Matteson 
with  two  exceptions,  and  he  received  also  the  votes  of  two 
Anti-Nebraska  Democrats,  making  44  in  all.  On  the  tenth 
ballot,  Mr.  Trumbull  was  elected,  in  the  way  just  explained, 
receiving  51  votes,  and  Mr.  Matteson  47.  Every  Whig 
vote  but  one  was  given  to  Mr.  Trumbull. 

Mr.  Lincoln  took  an  active  part  in  the  formation  of  the 
Republican  party  as  such.  The  State  Convention  of  that 
organization,  which  met  at  Bloomington,  on  the  29th  of 
May,  1S56,  sent  delegates  to  the  Philadelphia  Convention 
of  that  year,  held  for  the  nomination  of  Presidential  can- 
didates. 

Mr.  Lincoln  labored  earnestly  during  the  campaign, 
sustaining  the  nomination  of  Fremont  and  Dayton.  In 
the  State  canvass,  Colonel  WiUiam  H.  Bissell  received  the 
united  support  of  the  Opposition  for  Governor,  and  was 
elected  by  a  decisive  majority.  On  the  Presidential  candi- 
dates, there  being,  unfortunately,  two  tickets  in  the  field, 
the  divided  Opposition  were  unsuccessful,  although  Fre- 
mont, in  spite  of  the  heavy  Fillmore  vote,  ran  so  closely 
upon  Buchanan  that  the  result  was  for  a  time  in  doubt, 
and  only  the  nearly  solid  vote  of  "Egypt"  decided  the 
result  in  favor  of  the  latter.  The  untiring  exertions  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  stump,  in  enlightening  the  people  as  to 
the  real  issues  involved,  did  much  toward  securing  tliis  re- 
markable vote. 


92  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Speech  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Douglas,  on 

IViVNSAS,    THE    DrED   ScOTT    DECISION,  AND    THE 

Utah  Question. 
{Delivered  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  June  26, 1857.) 

Fellow-Citizens:  I  am  here  to-night,  partly  by  in- 
vitation of  some  of  you,  and  partly  by  my  own  inclination. 
Two  weeks  ago  Judge  Douglas  spoke  here  on  the  several 
subjects  of  Kansas,  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  and  Utah.  I 
listened  to  the  speech  at  the  time,  and  have  read  the  report 
of  it  since.  It  was  intended  to  controvert  opinions  which 
I  think  just,  and  to  assail  (politically,  not  personally)  those 
men  who,  in  common  with  me,  entertain  those  opinions. 
For  this  reason,  I  wished  then,  and  still  wish  to  make  some 
answer  to  it,  which  I  now  take  the  opportunity  of  doing. 

I  begin  with  Utah.  If  it  prove  to  be  true,  as  is  probable, 
that  the  people  of  Utah  are  in  open  rebellion  against  the 
United  States,  then  Judge  Douglas  is  in  favor  of  repealing 
their  territorial  organization,  and  attaching  them  to  the 
adjoining  States  for  judicial  purposes.  I  say,  too,  if  they 
are  in  rebellion,  they  ought  to  be  somehow  coerced  to  obedi- 
ence; and  I  am  not  now  prepared  to  admit  or  deny,  that 
the  Judge's  mode  of  coercing  them  is  not  as  good  as  any. 
The  Republicans  can  fall  in  with  it,  without  taking  back 
anything  they  have  ever  said.  To  be  sure,  it  would  be  a 
considerable  backing  down  by  Judge  Douglas,  from  his 
much  vaunted  doctrine  of  self-government  for  the  terri- 
tories; but  this  is  only  additional  proof  of  what  was  very 
plain  from  the  beginning,  that  the  doctrine  was  a  mere 
deceitful  pretence  for  the  benefit  of  slavery.  Those  who 
could  not  see  that  much  in  the  Nebraska  act  itself,  which 
forced  Governors,  and  Secretaries,  and  Judges  on  the  people 
of  the  Territories,  without  their  choice  or  consent,  could 
not  be  made  to  see,  though  one  should  rise  from  the  dead. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  93 

But  in  all  this,  it  is  very  plain  the  Judge  evades  the  only- 
question  the  Republicans  have  ever  pressed  upon  the 
Democracy  in  regard  to  Utah.  The  question  the  Judge  well 
knew  to  be  tliis:  "If  the  people  of  Utah  shall  peacefully 
form  a  State  Constitution  tolerating  poligamy,  will  the 
Democracy  admit  them  into  the  Union?  "  There  is  nothing 
in  the  United  States  Constitution  or  law  against  poligamy; 
and  why  is  it  not  a  part  of  the  Judge's  "sacred  right  of  self- 
government"  for  the  people  to  have  it,  or  rather  to  keep  it, 
if  they  choose?  These  questions,  so  far  as  I  know,  the 
Judge  never  answers.  It  might  involve  the  Democracy 
to  answer  them  either  way,  and  they  go  unanswered. 

As  to  Kansas.  The  substance  of  the  Judge's  speech  on 
Kansas  is  an  effort  to  put  the  Free  State  men  in  the  wrong 
for  not  voting  at  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention.  He  says;  "There  is  every  reason  to 
hope  and  beUeve  that  the  law  will  be  fairly  interpreted  and 
impartially  executed,  so  as  to  insure  to  every  bona  fide  inhab- 
itant the  free  and  quiet  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise. " 

It  appears  extraordinary  that  Judge  Douglas  should 
make  such  a  statement.  He  knows  that,  by  the  law,  no 
one  can  vote  who  has  not  been  registered;  and  he  knows 
that  the  Free  State  men  place  their  refusal  to  vote  on  the 
ground  that  but  few  of  them  have  been  registered.  It  is 
possible  this  is  not  true,  but  Judge  Douglas  knows  it  is 
asserted  to  be  true  in  letters,  newspapers  and  public 
speeches,  and  borne  by  every  mail,  and  blown  by  every 
breeze,  to  the  eyes  and  ears  of  the  world.  He  knows  it  is 
boldly  declared,  that  the  people  of  many  whole  counties, 
and  many  whole  neighborhoods  in  others,  are  left  un- 
registered; yet,  he  does  not  venture  to  contradict  the  de- 
claration, or  to  point  out  how  they  can  vote  without  being 
registered;  but  he  just  slips  along,  not  seeming  to  know 
there  is  any  such  question  of  fact,  and  complacently  de- 


94  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

dares,  "There  is  every  reason  to  hope  and  believe  that  the 
law  will  be  fairly  and  impartially  executed,  so  as  to  insure 
to  every  bona  fide  inhabitant  the  free  and  quiet  exercise  of 
the  elective  francliise.  " 

I  readily  agree  that  if  all  had  a  chance  to  vote,  they 
ought  to  have  voted.  If,  on  the  contrary,  as  they  allege, 
and  Judge  Douglas  ventures  not  particularly  to  contradict, 
few  only  of  the  Free  State  men  had  a  chance  to  vote,  they 
were  perfectly  right  in  staying  from  the  polls  in  a  body. 

By  the  way,  since  the  Judge  spoke,  the  Kansas  election 
has  come  off.  The  Judge  expressed  his  confidence  that  all 
the  Democrats  in  Kansas  would  do  their  duty— including 
"Free  State  Democrats"  of  course.  The  returns  received 
here,  as  yet,  are  very  incomplete;  but,  so  far  as  they  go, 
they  indicate  that  only  about  one-sixth  of  the  registered 
voters  have  really  voted;  and  this,  too,  when  not  more, 
perhaps,  than  one-half  of  the  rightful  voters  have  been 
registered,  thus  showing  the  thing  to  have  been  altogether 
the  most  exquisite  farce  ever  enacted.  I  am  watching  with 
considerable  interest,  to  ascertain  what  figm-e  the  "Free 
State  Democrats"  cut  in  the  concern.  Of  course  they 
voted— all  Democrats  do  their  duty— and  of  course  they 
did  not  vote  for  slave  State  candidates.  We  soon  shall 
know  how  many  delegates  they  elected,  how  many  candi- 
dates they  had  pledged  to  a  free  state,  and  how  many  votes 
were  cast  for  them. 

Allow  me  to  barely  whisper  my  suspicion,  that  there  were 
no  such  tilings  in  Kansas  as  "  Free  State  Democrats  "—that 
they  were  altogether  mythical,  good  only  to  figure  in  news- 
papers and  speeches  in  the  Free  States.  If  there  should 
prove  to  be  one  real,  living  Free  State  Democrat  in  Kansas, 
I  suggest  that  it  might  be  well  to  catch  liim,  and  stuff  and 
preserve  his  skin,  as  an  interesting  specimen  of  that  soon 
to  be  extinct  variety  of  the  Democrat. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  95 

And  now,  as  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision.  That  decision 
declares  two  propositions — first,  that  a  negro  cannot  sue  in 
the  United  States  courts;  and  secondly,  that  Congress  can- 
not prohibit  slavery  in  the  Territories.  It  was  made  by 
a  divided  court — dividing  differently  on  the  cUfferent 
points.  Judge  Douglas  does  not  discuss  the  merits  of  the 
decision,  and  in  that  respect,  I  shall  follow  his  example, 
believing  I  could  no  more  improve  upon  McLean  and  Curtis 
than  he  could  on  Taney. 

He  denounces  all  who  question  the  correctness  of  that 
decision,  as  offering  violent  resistance  to  it.  But  who  resists 
it?  Who  has,  in  spite  of  the  decision,  declared  Dred  Scott 
free,  and  resisted  the  authority  of  his  master  over  him? 

Judicial  decisions  have  two  uses — first,  to  absolutely 
determine  the  case  decided;  and  secondly,  to  indicate  to 
the  public  how  other  similar  cases  will  be  decided  when 
they  arise.  For  the  latter  use  they  are  called  "  precedents  " 
and  "authorities." 

We  believe  as  much  as  Judge  Douglas  (perhaps  more) 
in  obedience  to  and  respect  for  the  judicial  department  of 
Government.  We  think  its  decisions  on  Constitutional 
questions,  when  fully  settled,  should  control,  not  only  the 
particular  cases  decided,  but  the  general  policy  of  the 
country,  subject  to  be  disturbed  only  by  amendments  of 
the  Constitution,  as  provided  in  that  instrument  itself. 
More  than  tins  would  be  revolution.  But  we  think  the 
Dred  Scott  decision  is  erroneous.  We  know  the  court  that 
made  it  has  often  overruled  its  own  decisions,  and  we  shall 
do  what  we  can  to  make  it  overrule  this.  We  offer  no 
resistance  to  it. 

Judicial  decisions  are  of  greater  or  less  authority  as 
precedents,  according  to  circumstances.  That  tliis  should 
be  so,  accords  both  with  common  sense,  and  the  customary 
understanding  of  the  legal  profession. 


96  Life   of  Abraham   Lincoln. 

If  this  important  decision  had  been  made  by  the  unani- 
mous concurrence  of  the  judges,  and  without  any  apparent 
partisan  bias,  and  in  accordance  with  legal  public  expecta- 
tion, and  with  the  steady  practice  of  the  departments, 
throughout  our  liistory,  and  had  been  in  no  part  based  on 
assumed  historical  facts  which  are  not  really  true;  or,  if 
wanting  in  some  of  these,  it  had  been  before  the  court  more 
than  once,  and  had  there  been  affirmed  and  re-afiirmed 
through  a  course  of  years,  it  then  might  be,  perhaps  would 
be,  factious,  nay,  even  revolutionary,  not  to  acquiesce  in 
it  as  a  precedent. 

But  when,  as  is  true,  we  find  it  wanting  in  all  these 
claims  to  the  public  confidence,  it  is  not  resistance,  it  is 
not  factious,  it  is  not  even  disrespectful,  to  treat  it  as  not 
having  yet  quite  established  a  settled  doctrine  for  the 
country.  But  Judge  Douglas  considers  this  view  awful. 
Hear  him. 

"The  Courts  are  the  tribunals  prescribed  by  the  Con- 
stitution and  created  by  the  authority  of  the  people  to 
determine,  expound  and  enforce  the  law.  Hence,  whoever 
resists  the  final  decision  of  the  highest  tribunal,  aims  a 
deadly  blow  to  our  whole  Republican  system  of  govern- 
ment— a  blow'  wliich,  if  successful,  would  place  all  our 
rights  and  Uberties  at  the  mercy  of  passion,  anarchy  and 
violence.  I  repeat,  therefore,  that  if  resistance  to  the 
decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  in 
a  matter  like  the  points  decided  in  the  Dred  Scott  case, 
clearly  within  their  jurisdiction  as  defined  by  the  Constitu- 
tion, shall  be  forced  upon  the  country  as  a  political  issue, 
it  will  become  a  distinct  and  naked  issue  between  the  friends 
and  enemies  of  the  Constitution — the  friends  and  the 
enemies  of  the  supremacy  of  the  laws. " 

Why,  this  same  Supreme  Court  once  decided  a  national 
bank  to  be  constitutional,  but  General  Jackson,  as  Presi- 


GaAVE  OF  JIB.  LINCOLN'S  MOTHF.B- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  97 

dent  of  the  United  States,  disregarded  this  decision,  and 
vetoed  a  bill  for  a  re-charter,  partly  on  Constitutional 
ground,  declaring  that  each  public  functionary  must  sup- 
port the  Constitution  as  "he  understands  it."  But  hear 
the  General's  own  words.  Here  they  are,  taken  from  his 
veto  message: 

"  It  is  maintained  by  the  advocates  of  the  bank,  that  its 
constitutionality,  in  all  its  features,  ought  to  be  considered 
as  settled  by  precedent,  and  by  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  To  this  conclusion  I  cannot  assent.  Mere  prece- 
dent is  a  dangerous  source  of  authority,  and  should  not  be 
regarded  as  deciding  questions  of  Constitutional  power, 
except  where  the  acquiescence  of  the  people  and  the  States 
can  be  considered  as  well  settled.  So  far  from  this  being 
the  case  on  this  subject,  an  argument  against  the  bank 
might  be  based  on  the  precedent.  One  Congress,  in  1791, 
decided  in  favor  of  a  bank;  another  in  1811,  decided 
against  it.  One  Congress,  in  1815,  decided  against  a  bank ; 
another  in  1816,  decided  in  its  favor.  Prior  to  the  present 
Congress,  therefore,  the  precedents  drawn  from  that  source 
were  equal.  If  we  resort  to  the  States  the  expressions  of 
legislative,  judicial  and.  executive  opinions  against  the 
bank  have  been  probably  to  those  in  its  favor  as  four  to 
one.  There  is  notliing  in  precedent,  therefore,  which,  if  its 
authority  were  admitted,  ought  to  weigh  in  favor  of  the 
act  before  me.' 

I  drop  the  quotations  merely  to  remark,  that  all  there 
ever  was,  in  the  way  of  precedent,  up  to  the  Dred  Scott  de- 
cision, on  the  points  therein  decided,  had  been  against 
that  decision.     But  hear  General  Jackson  further : 

"  If  the  opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court  covered  the  whole 
ground  of  this  act,  it  ought  not  to  control  the  co-ordinate 
authorities  of  this.  Government.  The  Congress,  the  ex- 
ecutive and  the  Court,  must  each  for  itself  be  guided  by  its 


98  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

own  opinion  of  the  Constitution.  Each  pubhc  officer, 
who  takes  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitution,  swears  that 
he  will  support  it  as  he  understands  it,  and  not  as  it  is 
understood  by  others." 

Again  and  again  have  I  heard  Judge  Douglas  denounce 
that  bank  decision,  and  applaud  General  Jackson  for  disre- 
garding it.  It  would  be  interestmg  for  liim  to  look  over 
his  recent  speech,  and  see  how  exactly  liis  fierce  pliihppics 
against  us  for  resisting  Supreme  Court  decisions,  fall  upon 
his  own  head.  It  will  call  to  mind  a  long  and  fierce  political 
war  in  this  country,  upon  an  issue,  wliich  in  his  otsti  lan- 
guage, and,  of  course,  in  his  own  changeless  estimation, 
was  "a  distinct  issue  between  the  friends  and  the  enemies 
of  the  Constitution,"  and  in  which  war  he  fought  in  the 
ranks  of  the  enemies  of  the  Constitution. 

I  have  said,  in  substance,  that  the  Dred  Scott  decision 
was,  in  part,  based  on  assumed  liistorical  facts  which  were 
not  really  true,  and  I  ought  not  to  leave  the  subject  -nith- 
out  gi'V'ing  some  reasons  for  saying  this :  I,  therefore,  give 
an  instance  or  two,  which  I  tliink  fully  sustains  me.  Chief 
Justice  Taney,  in  delivering  the  opinion  of  the  majority 
of  the  Court,  insists  at  great  length,  that  negroes  were  no 
part  of  the  people  who  made,  or  for  whom  was  made,  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  or  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States. 

On  the  contrary.  Judge  Curtis,  in  his  dissenting  opinion, 
shows  that  in  five  of  the  then  thirteen  States,  to  wit:  New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  New  York,  New  Jersey  and 
North  Carolina,  free  negroes  were  voters,  and,  in  proportion 
to  their  numbers,  had  the  same  part  in  making  the  Con- 
stitution that  the  white  people  had.  He  shows  this  with 
so  much  particularity  as  to  leave  no  doubt  of  its  truth,  and 
as  a  sort  of  conclusion  on  that  point,  holds  the  following 
language. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  99 

"  The  Constitution  was  ordained  and  established  by  the 
people  of  the  LTnited  States,  through  the  action,  in  each 
State,  of  those  persons  who  were  qualified  by  its  laws  to 
act  thereon  in  behalf  of  themselves  and  all  other  citizens 
of  the  State.  In  some  of  the  States,  as  we  have  seen, 
colored  persons  were  among  those  qualified  by  law  to  act  on 
the  subject.  These  colored  persons  were  not  only  included 
in  the  '  body  of  the  people  of  the  United  States, '  by  whom 
the  Constitution  was  ordained  and  established;  but  in 
at  least  five  of  the  States  they  had  the  power  to  act,  and, 
doubtless,  did  act,  by  their  suffrages,  upon  the  question 
of  its  adoption." 

Again,  Cliief  Justice  Taney  says:  "  It  is  difficult,  at  this 
day,  to  realize  the  state  of  public  opinion  in  relation  to  that 
unfortunate  race,  wliich  prevailed  in  the  civilized  and 
enlightened  portions  of  the  world  at  the  time  of  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  and  when  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  was  framed  and  adopted."  And  again, 
after  quoting  from  the  Declaration,  he  says:  " The  general 
words  above  quoted  would  seem  to  include  the  whole 
human  family,  and  if  they  were  used  in  a  similar  instru- 
ment at  this  da)',  would  be  so  understood. " 

In  these  the  Chief  Justice  does  not  directly  assert,  but 
plainly  assumes,  as  a  fact,  that  the  public  estimate  of  the 
black  man  is  more  favorable  now  than  it  was  in  the  days 
of  the  Ptevolution.  This  assumption  is  a  mistake.  In 
some  trifling  particulars,  the  condition  of  that  race  has  been 
ameliorated;  but,  as  a  whole,  in  tins  country,  the  change 
between  then  and  now  is  decidedly  the  other  way;  and 
their  ultimate  destiny  has  never  appeared  so  hopeless  as 
in  the  last  three  or  four  years.  In  two  of  the  five  States — 
New  Jersey  and  North  Carolina — that  then  'gave  the  free 
negro  the  right  of  voting,  the  right  has  since  been  taken 
away,  and  in  the  third — New  York — it  has  been  greatly 


100  Life  op  Abraham  Lincoln, 

abridged ;  while  it  has  not  been  extended,  so  far  as  I  know, 
to  a  single  additional  State,  though  the  number  of  the 
States  has  more  than  doubled.  In  those  days,  as  I  under- 
stand, masters  could,  at  their  own  pleasure,  emancipate  their 
slaves;  but  since  then  such  legal  restraints  have  been  put 
upon  emancipation  as  to  amount  almost  to  prohibition. 
In  those  days  Legislatures  held  the  unquestioned  power 
to  abolish  slaverj-  in  their  respective  States ;  but  now  it  is 
becoming  quite  fashionable  for  State  Constitutions  to  with- 
hold that  power  from  the  Legislatures.  In  those  days,  by 
common  consent,  the  spread  of  the  black  man's  bondage 
to  the  new  countries  was  prohibited;  but  now.  Congress 
decides  that  it  will  not  continue  the  prohibition — and  the 
Supreme  Court  decides  that  it  could  not  if  it  would.  In 
those  days  our  Declaration  of  Independence  was  held  sacred 
by  all,  and  thought  to  include  all;  but  now,  to  aid  in 
making  the  bondage  of  the  negro  universal  and  eternal, 
it  is  assailed,  sneered  at,  construed,  hawked  at,  and  torn, 
till,  if  its  framers  could  rise  from  their  graves,  they  could 
not  at  all  recognize  it.  All  the  powers  of  earth  seem  rap- 
idly combining  against  him.  Mammon  is  after  him;  am- 
bition follows,  philosophy  follows,  and  the  theology  of  the 
day  is  fast  joining  the  cry.  They  have  Mm  in  his  prison- 
house;  they  have  searched  his  person,  and  left  no  prying- 
instrument  with  him.  One  after  another  they  have  closed 
the  heavy,  iron  doors  upon  him,  and  now  they  have  Mm, 
as  it  were,  bolted  in  with  a  lock  of  a  hundred  keys,  which 
can  never  be  unlocked  ^-ithout  the  concurrence  of  every 
key;  the  keys  in  the  hands  of  a  hundred  different  men, 
and  they  scattered  to  a  hundred  different  and  distant 
places;  and  they  stand  musing  as  to  what  invention,  in 
all  the  dominions  of  mind  and  matter,  can  be  produced 
to  make  the  impossibihty  of  his  escape  more  complete 
than  it  is. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  101 

It  is  grossly  incorrect  to  say  or  assume,  that  the  pubUc 
estimate  of  the  negro  is  more  favorable  now  than  it  was 
at  the  origin  of  the  government. 

Three  years  and  a  half  ago,  Judge  Douglas  brought  for- 
ward his  famous  Nebraska  bill.  The  country  was  at  once 
in  a  blaze.  He  scorned  all  opposition,  and  carried  it 
through  Congress.  Since  then  he  has  seen  himself  super- 
seded in  a  Presidential  nomination,  by  one  indorsing  the 
general  doctrine  of  his  measure,  but  at  the  same  time 
standing  clear  of  the  odium  of  its  untimely  agitation,  and 
its  gross  breach  of  national  faith;  and  he  has  seen  that 
successful  rival  constitutionally  elected,  not  by  the  strength 
of  friends,  but  by  the  division  of  his  adversaries,  being 
in  a  popular  minority  of  nearly  four  hundred  thousand 
votes.  He  has  seen  his  chief  aids  in  his  own  State,  Shields 
and  Richardson,  politically  speaking,  successively  tried, 
convicted,  and  executed,  for  an  offense  not  their  own,  but 
Ms.  And  now  he  sees  Ms  own  case,  standing  next  on  the 
docket  for  trial. 

There  is  a  natural  disgust  in  the  minds  of  nearly  all 
white  people,  to  the  idea  of  an  indiscriminate  amalgama- 
tion of  the  white  and  black  races;  and  Judge  Douglas 
evidently  is  basing  Ms  hope  on  the  chances  of  his  being 
able  to  appropriate  the  benefit  of  this  disgust  to  himself. 
If  he  can,  by  much  drumming  and  repeating,  fasten  the 
odium  of  that  idea  upon  his  adversaries,  he  thinks  he  can 
struggle  through  the  storm.  He,  therefore,  clings  to  this 
hope  as  a  drowmng  man  to  the  last  plank.  He  makes  an 
occasion  for  lugging  it  in  from  the  opposition  to  the  Dred 
Scott  decision.  He  finds  the  Republicans  insisting  that 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  includes  all  men,  black 
as  well  as  white,  and  forthwith  he  boldly  denies  that  it 
includes  negroes  at  all,  and  proceeds  to  argue  gravely  that 
all  who  contend  it  does,  do  so  only  because  they  want  to 


102  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

vote,  sleep  and  eat,  and  marry  with  negroes!  He  will  have 
it  that  they  cannot  be  consistent  else.  Now,  I  protest 
against  the  counterfeit  logic  which  concludes  that,  because 
I  do  not  want  a  black  woman  for  a  slave,  I  must  necessarily 
want  her  for  a  wife.  I  need  not  have  her  for  either.  I 
can  just  leave  her  alone.  In  some  respects  she  certainly 
is  not  my  equal;  but  in  her  natural  right  to  eat  the  bread 
she  earns  with  her  own  hands,  without  asking  leave  of  any 
one  else,  she  is  my  equal,  and  the  equal  of  all  others. 

Chief  Justice  Taney,  in  his  opinion  in  the  Dred  Scott  case, 
admits  that  the  language  of  the  Declaration  is  broad  enough 
to  include  the  whole  human  family;  but  he  and  Judge 
Douglas  argue  that  the  authors  of  that  instrument  did  not 
intend  to  include  negroes,  by  the  fact  that  they  did  not  at 
once  actually  place  them  on  an  equality  with  the  whites. 
Now,  this  grave  argument  comes  to  just  notliing  at  all,  by 
the  other  fact  that,  they  did  not  at  once,  or  ever  afterward, 
actually  place  all  wliite  people  on  an  equality  wath  one  an- 
other. And  tliis  is  the  staple  argument  of  both  the  Chief 
Justice  and  the  Senator  for  doing  this  obvious  violence  to 
the  plain,  unmistakable  language  of  the  Declaration. 

I  think  the  authors  of  that  notable  instrument  intended 
to  include  all  men,  but  they  did  not  intend  to  declare  all 
men  equal  in  all  respects.  They  did  not  mean  to  say  all 
were  equal  in  color,  size,  intellect,  moral  developments,  or 
social  capacity.  They  defined  uith  tolerable  distinctness 
in  what  respects  they  did  consider  all  men  created  equal- 
equal  with  "certain  inalienable  rights,  among  which  are 
life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. "  Tliis  they  said, 
and  this  meant.  They  did  not  mean  to  assert  the  obvious 
untruth,  that  all  were  then  actually  enjoying  that  equality, 
nor  yet,  that  they  were  about  to  confer  it  immediately  upon 
them.  In  fact,  they  had  no  power  to  confer  such  a  boon. 
They  meant  simply  to  declare  the  right,  so  that  the  en- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  103 

forccment  of  it  might  follow  as  fast  as  circumstances  should 
permit. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  in  conclusion,  pointed  out  in  a  clear  and 
forcible  mamier  the  real  distinction  between  his  own  views 
and  those  of  Mr.  Douglas  on  this  question,  as  he  has  done 
in  other  speeches. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Lincoln-Douglas  Campaign  of  1858. 

On  the  16th  of  June— the  day  on  which  the  session  of 
Congress  closed— the  Republicans  held  their  State  Conven- 
tion at  Springfield.  Richard  Yates  was  the  temporary, 
and  Gustavus  Koerner  the  permanent  chairman.  Nearly 
every  one  of  the  hundred  and  two  counties  of  Illinois  was 
duly  represented,  the  delegates  numbering  over  five  hun- 
dred. Candidates  were  nominated  for  State  Treasurer 
and  for  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  and  a  plat- 
form was  adopted  essentially  the  same  as  that  put  forth 
two  years  previously  at  Bloomington,  as  already  quoted. 
A  resolution  approving  the  course  of  Lyman  Trumbull  as 
Senator  was  carried  without  opposition.  The  following 
resolution  was  then  introduced,  which,  according  to  the 
official  report,  "was  greeted  with  shouts  of  applause,  and 
unanimously  adopted:" 

Resolved,  That  Abraham  Lincoln  is  the  first  and  only 
choice  of  the  Republicans  of  Illinois  for  the  United  States 
Senate,  as  the  successor  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 

Mr.  Lincoln  had  not  been  present  during  the  Conven- 
tion, and  when  called  on  to  speak,  at  the  adjourned  even- 
ing session,  he  had  no  knowledge  that  such  a  resolution 
had  been  offered.  So  far  was  it  from  being  true  that  his 
speech  on  that  occasion,  as  subsequently  stated  by  Douglas, 
was  made  on  accepting  a  nomination  for  the  Senatorslup, 
that,  of  course,  he  did  not  allude  to  that  subject.    The 

105 


106  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

speech,  too,  though  carefully  prepared,  as  Mr.  Lincoln 
afterward  admitted,  was  never  known  to  any  one  else  than 
himself  until  its  delivery,  notwithstanding  the  insinuation 
of  Douglas  that  it  was  a  subject  of  special  consultation 
among  the  Republican  leaders.  It  was  the  result  of  a 
broad  and  profound  survey  of  the  slavery  question,  from 
the  point  of  view  then  reached  in  the  progress  of  parties. 
"The  hall,  and  lobbies,  and  galleries  were  even  more 
densely  crowded  and  packed  than  at  any  time  during 
the  day, "  says  the  official  report,  as  the  Convention  re- 
assembled in  the  evening  to  hear  Mr.  Lincoln.  As  he 
approached  the  speaker's  stand,  he  was  greeted  with 
shouts,  and  hurrahs,  and  prolonged  cheering. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  First  Speech  in  the  Senatorial 
Canvass. 

{At  the  Republican  State  Convention,  Jurie  16, 1858.) 

Mr.  Lincoln  said — 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention: — If  we  could  first 
know  where  we  are,  and  whither  we  are  tending,  we  could 
then  better  judge  what  to  do,  and  how  to  do  it.  We  are 
now  far  on  into  the  fifth  year,  since  a  policy  was  initiated, 
with  the  avowed  object,  and  confident  promise,  of  putting 
an  end  to  slavery  agitation.  Under  the  operation  of  that 
poUcy,  that  agitation  has  not  only  not  ceased,  but  has  con- 
stantly augmented.  In  my  opinion,  it  will  not  cease,  until 
a  crisis  shall  have  been  reached,  and  passed.  "A  house 
divided  against  itself  cannot  stand. "  I  believe  this  govern- 
ment cannot  endure,  permanently,  half  slave  and  half  free. 
I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved — I  do  not  expect 
the  house  to  fall — but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  di- 
vided.    It  will  become  all  one  tiling,  or  all  the  other. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  107 

Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest  the  further 
spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where  the  public  mind  shall  rest 
in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  course  of  ultimate  extinction,  or 
its  advocates  will  push  it  forward,  till  it  shall  become 
alike  lawful  in  all  the  states,  old  as  well  as  new — North  as 
well  as  South. 

Have  we  no  tendency  to  the  latter  condition?  Let  any 
one  who  doubts,  carefully  contemplate  that  now  almost 
complete  legal  combination — piece  of  machinery,  so  to 
speak — compounded  of  the  Nebraska  doctrine,  and  the 
Dred  Scott  decision.  Let  him  consider  not  only  what 
work  the  machinery  is  adapted  to  do,  and  how  well  adapted, 
but  also  let  him  study  the  history  of  its  construction,  and 
trace,  if  he  can,  or  rather  fail,  if  he  can,  to  trace  the  evi- 
dences of  design,  and  concert  of  action,  among  its  chief 
master-workers  from  the  beginning. 

But,  so  far,  Congress  only  had  acted,  and  an  indorsement 
by  the  people,  real  or  apparent,  was  indispensable,  to  save 
the  point  already  gained,  and  give  chance  for  more.  The 
new  year  of  1854  found  slavery  excluded  from  more  than 
half  the  States  by  State  Constitutions,  and  from  most  of 
the  national  territory  by  Congressional  proliibition.  Four 
days  later  commenced  the  struggle,  which  ended  in  repeal- 
ing that  Congressional  prohibition.  This  opened  all  the 
national  territory  to  slavery,  and  was  the  first  point  gained. 

This  necessity  had  not  been  overlooked,  but  had  been 
provided  for,  as  well  as  might  be,  in  the  notable  argument 
of  "squatter  sovereignty,"  otherwise  called  "sacred  right  of 
self-government, "  which  latter  phrase,  though  expressive  of 
the  only  rightful  basis  of  any  government,  was  so  perver- 
ted in  this  attempted  use  of  it  as  to  amount  to  just  this: 
that  if  any  one  man  choose  to  enslave  another,  no  tliird 
man  shall  be  allowed  to  object.  That  argument  was  in- 
corporated into  the  Nebraska  bill  itself,  in  the  language 


>■ 


108  Life  of  Abraham  Lixcolx. 

which  follows:  "It  being  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of 
this  act  not  to  legislate  slavery  into  any  Territory  or  State, 
nor  exclude  it  therefrom;  but  to  leave  the  people  thereof 
perfectly  free  to  form  and  regulate  their  domestic  institu- 
tions in  their  own  way,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States." 

Then  opened  the  roar  of  loose  declamation  in  favor  of 
"squatter  sovereignty,"  and  "sacred  right  of  self-govern- 
ment. " 

"  But, "  said  opposition  members,  "  let  us  be  more  specific 
— let  us  amend  the  bill  so  as  to  expressly  declare  that  the 
people  of  the  territory  may  exclude  slavery. "  "  Not  we, " 
said  the  friends  of  the  measure ;  and  down  they  voted  the 
amendment. 

While  the  Nebraska  Bill  was  passing  through  Congress, 
a  law  case,  involving  the  question  of  a  negro's  freedom,  by 
reason  of  his  owner  having  voluntarily  taken  him  first  into 
a  free  State  and  then  a  territory  covered  by  the  Congres- 
sional proliibition,  and  held  liim  as  a  slave — for  a  long  time 
in  each — was  passing  through  the  V.  S.  Circuit  Court  for 
the  District  of  Missouri,  and  both  the  Nebraska  Bill  and 
law  suit  were  brought  to  a  decision  in  the  same  month  of 
May,  1854.  The  negro's  name  was  "Dred  Scott,"  which 
name  now  designates  the  decision  finally  made  in  the  case. 

Before  the  then  next  Presidential  election  case,  the  law 
came  to,  and  was  argued  in  the  Supreme  court  of  the 
United  States;  but  the  decision  of  it  was  deferred  imtil 
after  the  election.  Still,  before  the  election,  Senator 
Trumbull,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  requests  the  leading 
advocate  of  the  Nebraska  Bill  to  state  his  opinion  whether 
a  people  of  a  Territory  can  constitutionally  exclude  slavery 
from  their  limits,  and  the  latter  answers,  "  That  is  a  ques- 
tion for  the  Supreme  Court." 

The  election  came.     Mr.  Buchanan  was  elected,  and  the 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  109 

indorsement,  such  as  it  was,  secured.  That  was  the  second 
point  gained.  The  indorsement,  however,  fell  short  of 
a  clear  popular  majority  by  nearly  four  hundred  thousand 
votes,  and  so,  perhaps,  was  not  overwhelmingly  reliable 
and  satisfactory.  The  outgoing  President  in  his  last 
annual  message,  as  impressively  as  possible  echoed  back 
upon  the  people  the  weight  and  authority  of  the  indorse- 
ment. 

The  Supreme  Court  met  again;  cUd  not  announce  their 
decision,  but  ordered  a  re-argument.  The  Presidential 
inauguration  came,  and  still  no  decision  of  the  court ;  but 
the  incoming  President,  in  his  Inaugural  address,  fervently 
exhorted  the  people  to  abide  by  the  forthcoming  decision, 
whatever  it  might  he.  Then,  in  a  few  clays,  came  the  decision. 
This  was  the  third  point  gained. 

The  reputed  author  of  the  Nebraska  Bill  finds  an  early 
occasion  to  make  a  speech  at  this  capitol  indorsing  the 
Dred  Scott  decision  and  vehemently  denouncing  all  opposi- 
tion to  it.  The  new  President,  too,  seizes  the  early  occasion 
of  the  Silliman  letter  to  indorse  and  strongly  construe  that 
decision,  and  to  express  Ms  astonishment  that  any  different 
view  had  ever  been  entertained.  At  length  a  squabble 
springs  up  between  the  President  and  the  author  of  the 
Nebraska  Bill  on  the  mere  question  of  fact,  whether  the 
Lecompton  Constitution  was  or  was  not,  in  any  sense  just 
made  by  the  people  of  Kansas,  and,  in  that  squabble,  the 
latter  declares  that  all  he  wants  is  a  fair  vote  for  the  people 
and  that  he  cares  not  whether  slavery  be  voted  down  or 
voted  up.  I  do  not  understand  his  declaration  that  he 
cares  not  whether  slavery  be  voted  down  or  voted  up,  to 
be  intended  by  him  other  than  as  an  apt  definition  of  the 
policy  he  would  impress  upon  the  public  mind — the  prin- 
ciple for  which  he  declares  he  has  suffered  much,  and  is 
ready  to  suffer  to  the  end. 


1 10  Life  op  Abraham  Lincoln. 

And  well  may  he  cling  to  that  principle.  If  he  has  any 
parental  feeling,  well  may  he  cling  to  it.  That  principle 
is  the  only  shred  left  of  his  original  Nebraska  doctrine. 
Under  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  "squatter  sovereignty" 
squatted  out  of  existence,  tumbled  down  Hke  temporary 
scaffolding— like  the  mold  at  the  foundry,  served  through 
one  blast,  and  fell  back  into  loose  sand— helped  to  carry 
an  election,  and  then  was  kicked  to  the  winds.  His  late 
joint  struggle  with  the  Repubhcans,  against  the  Lecompton 
Constitution  involves  nothing  of  the  original  Nebraska 
doctrine.  That  struggle  was  made  on  a  point— the  right 
of  a  people  to  make  their  own  constitution — upon  wliich  he 
and  the  Republicans  have  never  differed. 

The  several  points  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  in  con- 
nection with  Senator  Douglas's  "care  not"  policy,  consti- 
tute the  piece  of  machinery  in  its  present  state  of  advance- 
ment.    The  working  points  of  that  machinery  are: 

First,  That  no  negro  slave,  imported  as  such  from 
Africa,  and  no  descendant  of  such,  can  ever  be  a  citizen 
of  any  State,  in  the  sense  of  that  term  as  used  in  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States. 

This  point  is  made  in  order  to  deprive  the  negro,  in 
every  possible  event,  of  the  benefit  of  this  provision  of  the 
United  States  Constitution  wliich  declares  that— "The 
citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges 
and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States. " 

Secondly,  that  "subject  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,"  neither  Congress  nor  a  Territorial  Legis- 
lature can  exclude  slavery  from  any  United  States  Terri- 
tory. 

This  point  is  made  in  order  that  individual  men  may  fill 
up  the  Territories  with  slaves,  without  danger  of  losing 
them  as  property,  and  thus  to  enhance  the  chances  of 
permanency  to  the  institution  through  all  the  future. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  Ill 

Thiidly,  That  whether  the  holding  a  negro  in  actual 
slavery  in  a  free  State  makes  him  free,  as  against  the  holder, 
the  United  States  Courts  will  not  decide,  but  will  leave  to 
be  decided  by  the  courts  of  any  slave  State  the  negro  may 
be  forced  into  by  the  master. 

This  point  is  made,  not  to  be  pressed  immediately;  but 
if  acquiesced  in  for  a  while,  and  apparently  indorsed  by 
the  people  at  an  election,  then,  to  sustain  the  logical  con- 
clusion that  what  Dred  Scott's  master  might  lawfully  do 
with  Dred  Scott,  in  the  free  State  of  Illinois,  every  other 
master  may  lawfully  do  with  any  other  one,  or  one  thou- 
sand slaves,  in  Illinois,  or  in  any  other  free  State. 

Auxiliary  to  all  tliis  and  working  hand  in  hand  with  it, 
the  Nebraska  doctrine,  or  what  is  left  of  it,  is  to  educate 
and  mould  public  opinion,  at  least  Northern  public  opinion, 
not  to  care  whether  slavery  is  voted  down  or  voted  up. 

TMs  shows  exactly  where  we  now  are,  and  partially  also, 
wliither  we  are  tending. 

It  will  throw  additional  light  on  the  latter,  to  go  back, 
and  run  the  mind  over  the  string  of  liistorical  facts  already 
stated.  Several  tilings  will  appear  now  less  dark  and 
mysterious  than  they  did  when  they  were  transpiring.  The 
people  were  to  be  left  "perfectly  free,"  "subject  only  to 
the  Constitution. "  What  the  Constitution  had  to  do  with 
it,  outsiders  could  not  then  see.  Plainly  enough  now,  it 
was  an  exactly  fitted  niche  for  the  Dred  Scott  decision  to 
come  in  and  declare  that  perfect  freedom  of  the  people,  to 
be  just  no  freedom  at  all. 

Why  was  the  amendment,  expressly  declaring  the  right 
of  the  people  to  exclude  slavery  voted  down?  Plainly 
enough  now,  the  adoption  for  it  would  have  spoiled  the 
niche  for  the  Dred  Scott  decision. 

Why  was  the  court  decision  held  up?  Why  even  a 
Senator's  individual  opinion  witliheld  till  after  the  Presi- 


112  Life  OF  Abr.\ham  Lincoln. 

dential  election?  Plainly  enough  now,  the  speaking  out 
then  would  have  damaged  the  "-perfectly  free"  argument 
upon  which  the  election  was  to  be  carried. 

Why  the  outgoing  President's  felicitation  on  the  endorse- 
ment? Why  the  delay  of  a  re-argument?  Why  the  incom- 
ing President's  advance  exhortation  in  favor  of  the  de- 
cision? These  things  look  like  the  cautious  patting  and  pet- 
ting of  a  spirited  horse,  preparatory  to  mounting  him,  when 
it  is  dreaded  that  he  may  give  the  rider  a  fall.  And  why  the 
hasty  after-mdorsements  of  the  decision,  by  the  President 
and  others? 

We  cannot  absolutely  know  that  all  these  exact  adapta- 
tions are  the  result  of  pre-concert.  But  when  we  see  a  lot  of 
framed  timbers,  different  portions  of  wliich  we  know  have 
been  gotten  out,  at  different  times  and  places,  and  by 
different  workmen — Stephen,  Franklin,  Roger  and  James, 
for  instance — and  when  we  see  these  timbers  joined  together 
and  see  they  exactly  make  the  frame  of  a  house  or  mill, 
all  the  tenons  and  mortices  exactly  fitting,  and  all  the 
lengths  and  proportions  of  the  different  pieces  exactly 
adapted  to  their  respective  places,  and  not  a  piece  too 
many  or  too  few — not  omitting  even  scaffolding — or,  if  a 
single  piece  be  lacking,  we  can  see  the  place  in  the  frame 
exactly  fitted  and  prepared  to  yet  bring  such  piece  in — in 
such  a  case,  we  find  it  impossible  not  to  believe  that  Stephen 
and  Franklin  and  Roger  and  James  all  understood  one 
another  from  the  beginning,  and  all  worked  upon  a  com- 
mon plan  or  draft  drawn  up  before  the  first  blow  was 
struck. 

It  should  not  be  overlooked  that,  by  the  Nebraska  bill, 
the  people  of  a  State  as  well  as  Territory,  were  to  be  left 
"perfectly  free,"  "subject  only  to  the  Constitution."  Why 
mention  a  State?  They  were  legislating  for  Territories, 
and  not  for  or  about  States.     Certainly  the  people  of  a 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  113 

State  are  and  ought  to  be  subject  to  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States ;  but  why  is  mention  of  this  lugged  into 
this  merely  territorial  law?  Why  are  the  people  of  a  Terri- 
tory and  the  people  of  a  State  therein  lumped  together,  and 
their  relation  to  the  Constitution  therein  treated  as  being 
precisely  the  same? 

While  the  opinion  of  tne  court,  by  Chief  Justice  Taney,  in 
the  Dred  Scott  case,  and  the  separate  opinions  of  all  the 
concurring  judges,  expressly  declare  that  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  neither  permits  Congress  nor  a  Ter- 
ritorial Legislature  to  exclude  slavery  from  any  United 
States  Territory,  they  all  omit  to  declare  whether  or  not 
the  same  Constitution  permits  a  State,  or  the  people  of  a 
State  to  exclude  it.  Possibly,  this  was  a  mere  omission; 
but  who  can  be  quite  sure,  if  McLean  or  Curtis  had  sought 
to  get  into  the  opinion  a  declaration  of  unlimited  power 
in  the  people  of  a  State  to  exclude  slavery  from  their  limits, 
just  as  Chase  and  Mace  sought  to  get  such  declaration,  in 
behalf  of  the  people  of  a  Territory,  into  the  Nebraska  Bill — 
I  ask,  who  can  be  quite  sure  that  it  would  not  have  been 
voted  down,  in  the  one  case,  as  it  had  been  in  the  other. 

The  nearest  approach  to  the  point  of  declaring  the  power 
of  a  State  over  slavery,  is  made  by  Judge  Nelson.  He 
approaches  it  more  than  once,  using  the  precise  idea,  and 
almost  the  language,  too,  of  the  Nebraska  Act.  On  one 
occasion  his  exact  language  is,  "except  in  cases  where  the 
power  is  restrained  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  the  law  of  the  State  is  supreme  over  the  subject  of 
slavery  within  its  jurisdiction. " 

In  what  cases  the  power  of  the  State  is  so  restrained  by 
the  United  States  Constitution,  is  left  an  open  question, 
precisely  as  the  same  question,  as  to  the  restraint  on  the 
power  of  the  Territories  was  left  open  in  the  Nebraska  Act. 
Put  that  and  that  together,  and  we  have  another  nice  little 


114  Life  OF  Abraham  Lincoln. 

niche,  which  we,  may  ere  long,  see  filled  with  another  Su- 
preme Court  decision,  declaring  that  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  does  not  permit  a  state  to  exclude  slavery' 
from  its  limits.  And  this  may  especially  be  expected  if  the 
doctrine  of  "care  not  whether  slavery  be  voted  down  or 
voted  up, "  shall  gain  upon  the  public  mind  sufficiently  to 
give  promise  that  such  a  decision  can  be  maintained  when 
made. 

Such  a  decision  is  all  that  slavery  now  lacks  of  being  alike 
lawful  in  all  the  States.  Welcome  or  unwelcome,  such  de- 
cision is  probably  coming,  and  will  soon  be  upon  us,  unless 
the  power  of  the  present  political  dynasty  shall  be  met  and 
overthrown.  We  shall  lie  down  pleasantly  dreaming  that 
the  people  of  Missouri  are  on  the  verge  of  making  their 
State  free ;  and  we  shall  awake  to  the  reality,  instead,  that 
the  Supreme  Court  has  made  Illinois  a  slave  State. 

To  meet  and  overthrow  the  power  of  that  dynasty,  is  the 
work  now  before  all  those  who  would  prevent  that  consum- 
mation. That  is  what  we  have  to  do.  But  how  can  we 
best  do  it? 

There  are  those  who  denounce  us  openly  to  their  own 
friends,  and  yet  wliisper  softly,  that  Senator  Douglas  is  the 
aptest  instrument  there  is,  with  which  to  effect  that  object. 
They  do  not  tell  us,  nor  has  he  told  us,  that  he  wishes  any 
such  object  to  be  effected.  They  wdsh  us  to  infer  all,  from 
the  facts  that  he  now  has  a  little  quarrel  with  the  present 
head  of  the  dynasty;  and  that  he  has  regularly  voted  with 
us,  on  a  single  point,  upon  which  he  and  we  have  never 
differed. 

They  remind  us  that  he  is  a  very  ffreat  man,  and  that  the 
largest  of  us  are  very  small  ones.  Let  this  be  granted. 
But  "a  living  dog  is  better  than  a  dead  lion."  Judge 
Douglas,  if  not  a  dead  lion  for  tliis  work,  is  at  least  a  caged 
and  toothless  one.     How  can  he  oppose  the  advances  of 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  115 

slavery?  He  don't  care  an3rtl-Ling  about  it.  His  avowed 
mission  is  impressing  the  "public  heart"  to  care  nothing 
about  it. 

A  leading  Douglas  Democratic  newspaper  thinks  Doug- 
las's superior  talent  will  be  needed  to  resist  the  revival  of 
the  African  slave-trade.  Does  Douglas  believe  an  effort  to 
revive  that  trade  is  approaching?  He  has  not  said  so. 
Does  he  really  think  so?  But  if  it  is,  how  can  he  resist  it? 
For  years  he  has  labored  to  prove  it  a  sacred  right  of  white 
men  to  take  negro  slaves  into  the  new  Territories.  Can 
he  possibly  show  that  it  is  less  a  sacred  right  to  buy  them 
where  they  can  be  bought  cheapest?  And,  unquestionab ly 
they  can  be  bought  cheaper  in  Africa  than  in  Virginia. 

He  has  done  all  in  his  power  to  reduce  the  whole  question 
of  slavery  to  one  of  a  mere  right  of  property;  and  as  such, 
how  can  he  oppose  the  foreign  slave-trade — how  can  he  re- 
fuse that  trade  in  that  "property"  shall  be  "perfectly 
free" — unless  he  does  it  as  a  protection  to  the  home  pro- 
duction? And  as  the  home  producers  will  probably 
not  ask  the  protection,  he  will  be  wholly  without  a  ground 
of  opposition. 

Senator  Douglas  holds,  we  know,  that  a  man  may  right- 
fully be  wiser  to-day,  than  he  was  yesterday — that  he  may 
rightfully  change  when  he  finds  himself  wrong.  But,  can 
we  for  that  reason  run  ahead  and  infer  that  he  will  make 
any  particular  change,  of  which  he  himself  has  gi\'en  no 
intimation?  Can  we  safely  base  our  action  upon  any  such 
vague  inferences? 

Now,  as  ever,  I  wish  not  to  misrepresent  Judge  Douglas's 
position,  question  his  motives,  or  do  aught  that  can  be  per- 
sonally offensive  to  him.  Whenever,  if  ever,  he  and  we 
can  come  together  on  principle,  so  that  our  great  cause 
may  have  assistance  from  his  great  ability,  I  hope  to  have 
interposed  no  adventitious  obstacle. 


116  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 

But  clearly  ,  he  is  not  now  with  us — he  does  not  pretend 
to  be — he  does  not  promise  ever  to  be.  Our  cause,  then, 
must  be  intrusted  to,  ancf  conducted  by,  its  own  undoubted 
friends — those  whose  hands  are  free,  whose  hearts  are  in  the 
work — who  do  care  for  the  result. 

Two  years  ago  the  Republicans  of  the  nation  mustered 
over  thirteen  hundred  thousand  strong.  We  did  this  under 
the  single  impulse  of  resistance  to  a  common  danger, 
with  every  external  circumstance  against  us.  Of  strange, 
discordant,  and  even  hostile  elements,  we  gathered  from 
the  four  winds,  and  formed  and  fought  the  battle  through, 
under  the  constant  hot  fire  of  a  disciplined,  proud  and 
pampered  enemy.  Did  we  brave  all  then  to  falter  now? 
— now — when  that  same  enemy  is  wavering,  dissevered  and 
belligerent? 

The  result  is  not  doubtful.  We  shall  not  fail — if  we 
stand  firm,  we  shall  not  fail.  Wise  counsels  may  accelerate 
or  mistakes  delay  it,  but,  sooner  or  later,  the  victory  is  sure 
to  come. 

Mr.  Douglas,  having  lingered  for  more  than  three  weeks 
on  his  way  homeward,  preparing  for  the  struggle  before 
him,  arrived  in  Chicago  on  the  9th  of  July  amid  the 
most  showy  demonstrations  of  his  friends.  He  made  a 
long  speech  on  the  occasion,  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  present 
to  hear.  Douglas  claimed  great  credit  as  having  defeated 
the  President's  Lecompton  policy,  and  imperiously  re- 
turned thanks  to  the  Republicans  for  "  coming  up  manfully 
and  sustaining"  liim  and  his  little  band  in  opposition  to 
the  Administration — a  course,  certainly,  for  wliich  the 
Republican  party  deserved  no  special  thanks,  as  it  required 
of  them  no  sacrifice  of  either  consistency  or  partisan  fellow- 
ship. Subsequently  he  charged  an  alliance  between  the 
Republicans  and  the  Administration  oartv  for  liis  defeat. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  117 

He  took  care  again  to  avow  an  utter  indifference  as  to 
whether  Kansas  should  be  free  soil  or  slave  soil,  only 
asking  that  the  popular  majority  should  prevail.  At  length 
he  came  to  the  great  opening  speech  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  which 
had  been  carefully  pondered  during  the  last  three  weeks. 

"I  have  observed,"  he  said,  with  condescending  assur- 
ance, "I  have  observed  from  the  public  prints,  that  but  a 
few  days  ago  the  Republican  party  of  the  State  of  Illinois 
assembled  in  convention  at  Springfield,  and  not  only  laid 
down  their  platform,  but  nominated  a  candidate  for 
the  United  States  Senate  as  my  successor. 

I  take  great  pleasure  in  saying  that  I  have  known,  per- 
sonally and  intimately,  for  about  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
the  worthy  gentleman  who  has  been  nominated  for  my 
place;  and  I  will  say  that  I  regard  him  as  a  kind,  amiable 
and  intelligent  gentleman,  a  good  citizen,  and  an  honorable 
opponent;  and  whatever  issue  I  may  have  with  liim  will 
be  of  principle,  and  not  involving  personalities. "  He  then 
proceeded  to  specify  his  two  cliief  points  of  attack  on  Mr. 
Lincoln,  after  citing  a  portion  of  the  first  paragraph  of 
his  Springfield  speech.  Mr.  Douglas  endeavored  thus  to 
put  his  opponent  in  a  false  position,  by  selecting  sentences 
out  of  their  connection  and  imputing  to  them  a  perverted 
meaning. 

A  week  later  than  his  Cliicago  speech,  Mr.  Douglas 
spoke  at  Bloomington,  in  continuation  of  his  canvass. 
Here  again,  he  laid  great  stress  upon  his  "  popular  sover- 
eignty" device,  and  upon  his  anti-Lecompton  rebellion. 
He  also  repeated  substantially  his  two  issues  against  Mr. 
Lincoln,  based  upon  the  Springfield  .speech  of  June  16th. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  present  and  heard  him.  The  next  day, 
Douglas  made  a  speech  of  similar  character  at  Springfield, 
at  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  present.  The  latter,  how- 
ever, spoke  on  the  same  evening  at  that  place.     The  fol- 


118  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

lowing  are  some  of  the  chief  points  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
speech  on  this  occasion.     (July  17,  1858) : 

INEQUALITIES  OF  THE  CONTEST — THE  APPORTIONMENT, 

ETC. 

Fellow  Citizens:  Another  election,  which  is  deemed 
an  important  one  is  approaching,  and,  as  I  suppose,  the 
Republican  party  will,  without  much  difficulty,  elect  their 
State  ticket.  But  in  regard  to  the  Legislature,  we,  the 
Republicans,  labor  under  some  disadvantages.  In  the 
first  place,  we  have  a  Legislature  to  elect  upon  an  appor- 
tionment of  the  representation  made  several  years  ago, 
when  the  proportion  of  the  population  was  far  greater  in 
the  South  (as  compared  with  the  North)  than  it  now  is, 
and  inasmuch  as  our  opponents  hold  almost  entire  sway 
in  the  South,  and  we  a  correspondingly  large  majority  in 
the  North,  the  fact  that  we  are  now  to  be  represented  as 
we  were  years  ago,  when  the  population  was  different,  is, 
to  us,  a  very  great  disadvantage.  "We  had  in  the  year  1855, 
according  to  law,  a  census,  or  enumeration  of  the  inhab- 
itants, taken  for  the  purpose  of  a  new  apportionment  of 
representation.  We  know  what  a  fair  apportionment  of 
representation  upon  that  census  would  give  us.  We  know 
that  it  could  not,  if  fairly  made,  fail  to  give  the  Republican 
party  from  six  to  ten  more  members  of  the  Legislature  than 
they  can  probably  get  as  the  law  now  stands.  It  so  hap- 
pened at  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature,  that  our  oppo- 
nents, holding  the  control  of  both  branches  of  the  Legislature, 
steadily  refused  to  give  us  such  an  apportionment  as  we  were 
rightly  entitled  to  have  upon  the  census  already  taken. 
The  Legislatiu-e  would  pass  no  bill  upon  that  subject, 
except  such  as  was  at  least  as  unfair  to  us  as  the  old  one, 
and  in  which,  in  some  instances,  two  men  from  the  Demo- 
cratic regions  were  allowed  to  go  as  far  toward  sending  a 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  119 

member  to  the  Legislature  as  three  were  in  the  Repubhcan 
regions.  Comparison  was  made  at  the  time  as  to  repre- 
sentative and  senatorial  districts,  which  completely  demon- 
strated that  such  was  the  fact.  Such  a  bill  was  passed, 
and  tendered  to  the  Republican  Governor  for  his  signature , 
but,  principally  for  the  reasons  I  have  stated,  he  withheld 
his  approval,  and  the  bill  fell  without  becoming  a  law. 

Another  disadvantage  under  which  we  labor  is,  that 
there  are  one  or  two  Democratic  Senators  who  will  be 
members  of  the  next  Legislature,  and  will  vote  for  the 
election  of  Senator,  who  are  holding  over  in  districts  in 
which  we  could  on  all  reasonable  calculation,  elect  men  of 
our  own,  if  we  only  had  the  chance  of  an  election.  When 
we  consider  that  there  are  but  twenty-five  Senators  in  the 
Senate,  taking  two  from  the  side  where  they  rightfully 
belong,  and  adding  them  to  the  other,  is  to  us  a  disadvan- 
tage not  to  be  lightly  regarded.  Still,  so  it  is;  we  have 
this  to  contend  with.  Perhaps  there  is  no  ground  of  com- 
plaint on  our  part.  In  attending  to  the  many  tilings  in- 
volved in  the  last  general  election  for  President,  Governor, 
Auditor,  Treasurer,  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction, 
Members  of  Congress  and  of  the  Legislature,  County 
Officers,  and  so  on,  we  allowed  these  things  to  happen  for 
want  of  sufficient  attention,  and  we  have  no  cause  to  com- 
plain of  our  adversaries,  so  far  as  this  matter  is  concerned. 
But  we  have  some  cause  to  complain  of  the  refusal  to 
give  us  a  fair  apportionment. 

There  is  still  another  disadvantage  under  which  we 
labor,  and  to  winch  I  will  ask  your  attention.  It  arises  out 
of  the  relative  position  of  the  two  persons  who  stand  before 
the  State  as  candidates  for  the  Senate.  Senator  Douglas  is 
of  world-wide  renown.  All  the  anxious  politicians  of  his 
party,  or  who  have  been  of  Ms  party  for  years  past,  have 
been  looking  upon  him  as  certainly,  at  no  distant  day,  to 


120  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

be  the  President  of  the  United  States.  They  have  seen  in 
his  round,  jolly,  fruitful  face,  post  offices,  land  offices,  mar- 
shalships,  and  cabinet  appointments,  chargeships  and  for- 
eign missions,  bursting  and  sprouting  out  in  wonderful 
luxuriance,  ready  to  be  laid  hold  of  by  their  greedy  hands. 
[Great  laughter.]  And  as  they  have  been  gazing  upon  this 
attractive  picture  so  long,  they  can  not,  in  the  little  dis- 
traction that  has  taken  place  in  the  party,  bring  themselves 
to  give  up  the  charming  hope;  but  with  greedier  anxiety 
they  rush  upon  him,  sustain  him,  and  give  him  marches, 
triumphal  entries,  and  receptions,  beyond  what  even  in  the 
days  of  liis  highest  prosperity  they  could  have  brought 
about  in  his  favor.  On  the  contrary,  nobody  ever  ex- 
pected me  to  be  President.  In  my  poor,  lean,  lank  face, 
nobody  has  ever  seen  that  any  cabbages  were  sprouting  out. 
[Cheering  and  laughter.]  These  are  disadvantages  all,  that 
the  Repubhcans  labor  under.  We  have  to  fight  tlais  battle 
upon  principle  and  upon  principle  alone.  I  am,  in  a  cer- 
tain sense,  made  the  standard  bearer  in  behalf  of  the 
Repubhcans.  I  was  made  so  merely  because  there  had 
to  be  some  one  so  placed— I  being  in  no  wise  prefer- 
able to  any  other  one  of  the  twenty-five— perhaps  a 
hundred  we  have  in  the  Republican  ranks.  Then  I  say  I 
wish  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  and  borne  in  mind, 
that  we  have  to  fight  this  battle  without  many— 
perhaps  without  any— of  the  external  aids  which  are 
brought  to  bear  against  us.  So  I  hope  those  with  whom  I 
am  surrounded  have  principle  enough  to  nerve  themselves 
for  the  task,  and  leave  nothing  undone,  that  can  be  fairly 
done,  to  bring  about  the  right  result. 

The  Douglas  Programme. 

After  Senator  Douglas  left  Washington,  as  his  move- 
ments were  made  known  by  the  pubhc  prints,  he  tarried  a 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  121 

considerable  time  in  New  York  City ;  and  it  was  heralded 
that,  like  another  Napoleon,  he  was  lying  by  and  framing 
the  plan  of  Ms  campaign.  It  was  telegraphed  to  Washing- 
ton city,  and  published  in  the  Union,  that  he  was  framing 
his  plan  for  the  purpose  of  going  to  Illinois  to  pounce  upon 
and  amiihilate  the  treasonable  and  dis-union  speech  which 
Lincoln  had  made  there  on  the  16th  of  June.  Now,  I  do 
suppose  the  Judge  really  spent  some  time  in  New  York 
maturing  the  plan  of  the  campaign,  as  his  friends  heralded 
for  him.  I  have  been  able,  by  noting  his  movements  since 
his  arrival  in  Illinois,  to  discover  evidences  confirmatory 
of  that  allegation.  I  think  I  have  been  able  to  see  what  are 
the  material  points  of  that  plan.  I  will,  for  a  little  while, 
ask  your  attention  to  some  of  them.  What  I  shall  point 
out,  though  not  showing  the  whole  plan,  are,  nevertheless, 
the  main  points,  as  I  suppose. 

They  are  not  very  numerous.  The  first  is  popular  Sov- 
ereignty. The  second  and  third  are  attacks  upon  my  speech 
made  on  the  16th  of  June.  Out  of  these  three  points- 
drawing  within  the  range  of  popular  sovereignty  the  ques- 
tion of  the  Lecompton  constitution — he  makes  his  principal 
assault.  Upon  these  his  successive  speeches  are  substan- 
tially one  and  the  same.  On  this  matter  of  popular  sover- 
eignty I  wish  to  be  a  little  careful.  Auxiliary  to  these 
main  points,  to  be  sure,  are  their  thunderings  of  cannon, 
their  marching  and  music,  their  fizzle-gigs  and  fire-works; 
but  I  will  not  waste  time  with  them.  They  are  but  the 
little  trappings  of  the  campaign. 

Popular  Sovereignty. 

Coming  to  the  substance — the  first  point — "popular 
sovereignty. "  It  is  to  be  labeled  upon  the  cars  in  which 
he  travels ;  put  upon  the  hacks  he  rides  in ;  to  be  flaunted 
upon  the  arches  he  passes  under,  and  the  banners  wliich  wave 


122  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

over  him.  It  is  to  be  dished  up  in  as  many  varieties  as  a 
French  cook  can  produce  soups  from  potatoes.  Now,  as 
this  is  so  great  a  staple  of  the  campaign,  it  is  worth  while  to 
cxamhie  it  carefully;  and  if  we  examine  only  a  very  little, 
and  do  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  misled,  we  shall  be  able  to 
see  that  the  whole  thing  is  the  most  arrant  Quixotism  that 
was  ever  enacted  before  a  community.  What  is  this  mat- 
ter of  popular  sovereignty?  The  first  tiling,  in  order  to 
understand  it,  is  to  get  a  good  definition  of  what  it  is,  and 
after  that  to  see  how  it  is  applied. 

I  suppose  almost  everyone  knows  that  in  this  contro- 
versy, whatever  has  been  said  has  had  reference  to  the 
question  of-negro  slavery.  We  have  not  been  in  a  contro- 
versy about  the  right  of  the  people  to  govern  themselves 
in  the  ordinary  matters  of  domestic  concern  in  the  States 
and  Territories.  Mr.  Buchanan,  in  one  of  his  late  messages 
(I  think  when  he  sent  up  the  Lecompton  Constitution), 
urged  that  the  main  point  to  which  the  public  attention 
had  been  directed,  was  not  in  regard  to  the  great  variety  of 
small  domestic  matters,  but  it  was  directed  to  the  question 
of  negro  slavery,  and  he  asserts,  that  if  the  people  had  had 
a  fair  chance  to  vote  on  that  question,  there  was  no  reason- 
able ground  of  objection  in  regard  to  minor  questions. 
Now,  wliile  I  think  that  the  people  had  not  had  given,  or 
offered  them,  a  fair  chance  upon  that  slavery  question ;  still, 
if  there  had  been  a  fair  submission  to  vote  upon  that 
main  question,  the  President's  proposition  would  have 
been  true  to  the  uttermost.  Hence,  when  hereafter  I  speak 
of  popular  sovereignty,  I  wish  to  be  understood  as  apply- 
ing what  I  say  to  the  question  of  slavery  only,  not  to  other 
minor  domestic  matters  of  a  Territory  or  a  State. 

Does  Judge  Douglas  when  he  says  that  several  of  the 
past  years  of  liis  life  have  been  devoted  to  the  question  of 
"popular  sovereignty,"  and  that  all  the  remainder  of  his 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  123 

life  shall  be  devoted  to  it,  does  he  mean  to  say  that  he  has 
been  devoting  his  life  to  securing  to  the  people  of  the 
Territories  the  right  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  Terri- 
tories? If  he  means  so  to  say,  he  means  to  deceive ,  because 
he  and  every  one  knows  that  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  which  he  approves  and  makes  an  especial  ground 
of  attack  upon  me  for  disapproving,  forbids  the  people  of 
a  Territory  to  exclude  slavery.  This  covers  the  whole 
ground,  from  the  settlement  of  a  Territory  till  it  reaches 
the  maturity  entitling  it  to  form  a  State  Constitution. 
So  far  as  all  that  ground  is  concerned,  the  Judge  is  not 
sustaining  popular  sovereignty,  but  absolutely  opposing  it. 
He  sustains  the  decision  which  declares  that  the  popular 
will  of  the  Territories  has  no  constitutional  power  to 
exclude  slavery  during  their  Territorial  existence. 
[Cheers.]  Tliis  being  so,  the  period  of  time,  from  the  first 
settlement  of  a  Territory  till  it  reaches  the  point  of  forming 
a  State  Constitution,  is  not  the  thing  that  the  Judge  has 
fought  for,  or  is  fighting  for,  but  on  the  contrary,  he  has 
fought  for  and  is  fighting  for,  the  thing  that  annihilates 
and  crushes  out  that  same  popular  sovereignty. 

Well,  so  much  being  chsposed  of,  what  is  left?  Why, 
he  is  contending  for  the  right pf  the  people,  when  they  come 
to  make  a  State  Constitution,  to  make  it  for  themselves 
and  precisely  as  best  suits  themselves.  I  say  again,  that 
is  Quixotic.  I  defy  contradiction,  when  I  declare  that  the 
Judge  can  find  no  one  to  oppose  him  on  that  proposition. 
I  repeat  there  is  nobody  opposing  that  proposition  on 
principle.  Let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  I  know  that, 
with  reference  to  the  Lecompton  Constitution  I  may  be 
misunderstood;  but  when  you  understand  mo  correctly, 
my  proposition  will  be  true  and  accurate.  Nobody  is 
opposing,  or  has  opposed,  the  right  of  the  people,  when 
they  form  a  Constitution,  to  form  it  for  themselves.     Mr. 


124  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Buchanan  and  his  friends  have  not  done  it.  They,  too, 
as  well  as  the  Republicans  and  the  Anti-Lecompton  Demo- 
crats have  not  done  it;  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  together 
have  insisted  on  the  right  of  the  people  to  form  a  Constitu- 
tion for  themselves.  The  difference  between  the  Buchanan 
men,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Douglas  men  and  the 
RepubUcans  on  the  other,  has  not  been  on  a  question  of 
principle,  but  on  a  question  of  fact. 

The  chspute  was  upon  the  question  of  fact,  whether  the 
Lecompton  Constitution  had  been  fairly  formed  by  the 
people  or  not.  Mr.  Buchanan  and  liis  friends  ha^'e  not 
contended  for  the  contrary  principle,  any  more  than  the 
Douglas  men  or  the  Republicans.  They  have  insisted, 
that  whatever  of  small  irregularities  existed  in  getting 
up  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  were  such  as  happen  in 
the  settlement  of  all  new  Territories.  The  question  was, 
was  it  a  fair  emanation  of  the  people?  It  was  a  question 
of  fact,  and  not  of  principle.  As  to  the  principle,  all  were 
agreed.  Judge  Douglas  voted  with  the  Repubhcans  upon 
that  matter  of  fact. 

He  and  they,  by  their  voices  and  votes,  denied  that  it 
was  a  fair  emanation  of  the  people.  The  administration 
affirmed  that  it  was.  With  respect  to  the  e\'idence  bearing 
upon  the  question  of  fact,  I  readily  agree  that  Judge 
Douglas  and  the  Republicans  had  the  right  on  their  side 
and  that  the  Administration  was  \VTong.  But  I  state 
again,  that  as  a  matter  of  principle,  there  is  no  dispute 
upon  the  right  of  a  people  in  a  Territory,  merging  into  a 
State,  to  form  a  Constitution  for  themselves,  \\ithout 
outside  interference  from  any  quarter.  This  being  so, 
what  is  Judge  Douglas  going  to  spend  his  life  for?  Is  he 
going  to  spend  his  life  in  maintaining  a  principle  that 
nobody  on  earth  opposes?  [Cheers.]  Does  he  expect  to 
stand  up  in  majestic  dignity,  and  go  through  his  apotheosis. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  125 

and  become  a  god,  in  the  maintaining  of  a  principle  which 
neither  man  nor  mouse,  in  all  God's  creation,  is  opposing? 
[Great  applause.] 

The  Lecompton  Issue. 

How  will  he  prove  that  we  have  ever  occupied  a  different 
position  in  regard  to  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  or  any 
principle  in  it?  He  says  he  did  not  make  his  opposition 
on  the  ground  as  to  whether  it  was  a  free  or  a  slave  Con- 
stitution, and  he  would  have  you  understand  that  the 
Republicans  made  their  opposition  because  it  ultimately 
became  a  slave  constitution.  To  make  proof  in  favor  of 
himself  on  this  point,  he  reminds  us  that  he  opposed 
Lecompton  before  the  vote  was  taken  whether  the  State 
was  to  be  free  or  slave.  But  he  forgets  to  say,  that  our 
Republican  Senator,  Trumbull,  made  a  speech  against 
Lecompton  even  before  he  did. 

Why  did  he  oppose  it?  Partly,  as  he  declares,  because 
the  members  of  the  Convention  who  framed  it  were  not 
fairly  elected  by  the  people;  that  the  people  were  not 
allowed  to  vote  unless  they  had  been  registered;  and  that 
the  people  of  whole  counties,  in  some  instances,  were  not 
registered.  For  these  reasons  he  declares  the  Constitution 
was  not  an  emanation  in  any  true  sense,  from  the  people. 
He  also  has  an  additional  objection  as  to  the  mode  of 
submitting  the  Constitution  back  to  the  people.  But 
bearing  on  the  question  of  whether  the  delegates  were 
fairly  elected,  a  speech  of  his  made  something  more  than 
twelve  months  ago  from  this  stand,  becomes  important. 
It  was  made  a  httle  wliile  before  the  election  of  the  dele- 
gates who  made  Lecompton.  In  that  speech  he  declared 
there  was  every  reason  to  hope  and  believe  the  election 
would  be  fair,  and  if  any  one  failed  to  vote  it  would  be  his 
own  fault. 


126  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

I,  a  few  days  after,  made  a  sort  of  answer  to  that  speech. 
In  that  answer,  I  made,  substantially,  the  very  argument 
with  which  he  combated  Ms  Lecompton  adversaries  in  the 
Senate  last  ^^•inter.  I  pointed  to  the  fact  that  the  people 
could  not  vote  ^dthout  being  registered,  and  that  the  time 
for  registering  had  gone  by.  I  commented  on  it  as  wonder- 
ful that  Judge  Douglas  could  be  ignorant  of  these  facts, 
which  every  one  else  in  the  nation  so  well  knew. 

[Jlr.  Lincoln  then  proceeded  to  notice  the  attacks  made 
by  Douglas  on  the  6th  of  June  speech  of  the  former.  In 
substance,  it  is  like  Ms  repl)^  at  CMcago.  Some  of  its 
more  striking  passages  are  here  subjoined.] 

He  charges,  in  substance,  that  I  invite  a  war  of  sections ; 
that  I  propose  that  all  the  local  institutions  of  the  different 
States  shall  become  consolidated  and  umform.  What  is 
there  in  the  language  of  that  speech  which  expresses  such 
purpose,  or  bears  such  construction?  I  have  again  and 
again  said  that  I  would  not  enter  into  any  of  the  States  to 
disturb  the  institution  of  slavery.  Judge  Douglas  said,  at 
Bloomington,  that  I  used  language  most  able  and  ingemous 
for  concealing  what  I  really  meant ;  and  that,  while  I  had 
protested  against  entering  into  the  slave  States,  I  neverthe- 
less did  mean  to  go  on  the  banks  of  the  OMo  and  throw 
missiles  into  Kentucky,  to  disturb  the  people  there  in  their 
domestic  institutions. 

I  said  in  that  speech,  and  I  meant  no  more,  that  the  in- 
stitution of  slavery  ought  to  be  placed  in  the  very  attitude 
where  the  framers  of  this  government  placed  it,  and  left  it. 
I  do  not  understand  that  the  framers  of  our  Constitution 
left  the  people  in  the  free  States  in  the  attitude  of  firing 
bombs  or  shells  into  the  slave  States.  I  was  not  using  that 
passage  for  the  pm-pose  for  wMch  he  infers  I  did  use  it. 

*  *  *  Now  you  all  see,  from  that  quotation,  I  did  not 
express  my  wish  on  anytMng.     In  that  passage  I  indicate 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  127 

no  wish  or  purpose  of  my  own;  I  simply  expressed  my 
expectation. 

[Recurring  to  the  Dred  Scott  case,  after  citing  Jefferson's 
views  on  judicial  decisions,  and  alluding  to  the  course  of  the 
Democracy,  Douglas  included,  in  regard  to  the  National 
Bank  decision,  Mr.  Lincoln  said:] 

Now,  I  wish  to  know  what  the  Judge  can  charge  upon 
me,  ^^^th  respect  to  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
which  does  not  lie  in  all  its  length,  breadth  and  proportions 
at  his  own  door.  The  plain  truth  is  simply  this:  Judge 
Douglas  is  for  Supreme  Court  decisions  when  he  likes  and 
against  them  when  he  does  not  like  them.  He  is  for  the 
Dred  Scott  decision  because  it  tends  to  nationalize  slavery 
—because  it  is  part  of  the  original  combination  for  that 
object.  It  so  happened,  singularly  enough,  that  I  never 
stood  opposed  to  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  till  this. 
On  the  contrary,  I  have  no  recollection  that  he  was  ever 
particularly  in  favor  of  one  till  this.  He  never  was  in  favor 
of  any,  nor  I  opposed  to  any,  till  the  present  one,  which 
helps  to  nationahze  slavery. 

Free  men  of  Sangamon— free  men  of  Illinois— free  men 
ever}rwhere — judge  ye  between  him  and  me,  upon  this  issue. 

Near  the  close  of  July,  various  speeches  having  been 
made  by  each  at  different  points,  an  arrangement  for  one 
joint  discussion  in  each  of  the  seven  Congressional  districts, 
in  which  they  had  not  already  both  spoken,  was  agreed 
upon.  At  this  stage  of  the  canvass,  the  people  of  the  whole 
country  were  beginning  to  take  a  lively  interest  in  this  con- 
test, and  the  reports  of  the  first  debate  at  Ottawa  were 
eagerly  sought  for  and  read,  at  the  East  and  at  the  AVest. 
The  friends  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  the  Republicans  in  general, 
were  well  pleased  with  the  manner  in  which  he  acquitted 
himself  in  this  joint  discussion.     At  each  succeeding  en- 


128  Life   of  Abraham   Lincoln. 

counter  of  this  sort,  the  impression  was  strengthened 
throughout  the  country,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  obtaining 
decided  advantages  over  his  opponent.  At  Freeport,  he 
forced  Douglas  into  an  attempted  reconciliation  of  the 
hitherto  unexplained  inconsistencies  between  his  squatter 
sovereignty  theory,  and  his  support  of  the  Dred  Scott  de- 
cision, which  utterly  excludes  squatter  sovereignty  in  prac- 
tice. His  "  unfriendly  legislation  "  device,  on  that  occasion, 
cost  Douglas  the  loss  of  the  last  possibility  of  any  reconcilia- 
tion with  the  Southern  Democracy.  While  this  answer, 
most  unwdllingly  given,  perhaps,  yet  announced  with  appar- 
ent alacrity,  contributed  something  toward  effecting  his 
immediate,  temporary  purpose,  it  undoubtedly  destroyed 
all  his  remoter  chances  as  a  Presidential  candidate  of  a 
united  Democracy. 

The  Ottawa  debate  is  memorable  for  one  of  the  most  sur- 
prising political  devices  ever  resorted  to  by  a  man  in  high 
position,  like  Douglas.  It  consisted  in  quoting  a  series  of 
ultra  resolutions  adopted  at  a  small  local  convention  long 
before  the  party  was  formed,  and  palming  them  off  as  the 
platform  adopted  by  "  the  first  mass  State  convention  ever 
held  in  Illinois  by  the  Black  Republican  party. "  On  these 
resolutions,  to  which  he  assumed  that  Lincoln  was  com- 
mitted, Dougles  based  a  series  of  questions,  which  the  former 
duly  exposing  the  imposition  thus  practiced,  frankly  and 
most  explicitly  answered  at  Freeport,  the  scene  of  the 
second  debate,  as  follows: 

Opening  Passages  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Freeport  Speech. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — On  Saturday  last  Judge 
Douglas  and  myself  first  met  in  pubhc  discussion.  He 
spoke  one  hour,  I  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  he  replied  for 
half  an  hour.    The  order  is  now  reversed.    I  am  to  speak 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  129 

an  hour,  he  an  hour  and  a  half,  and  then  I  am  to  reply  for 
half  an  hour.  I  propose  to  devote  myself  during  the  first 
hour  to  the  scope  of  what  was  brought  within  the  range  of 
his  half-hour  speech  at  Ottawa.  Of  course  there  was 
brought  within  the  scope  of  that  half-hour's  speech  some- 
thing of  his  own  opening  speech.  In  the  course  of  that 
opening  argument  Judge  Douglas  proposed  to  me  seven 
distinct  interrogatories.  In  my  speech  of  an  hour  and  a 
half,  I  attended  to  some  other  parts  of  his  speech,  and 
incidentally,  as  I  thought,  answered  one  of  the  interroga- 
tories then.  I  then  distinctly  intimated  to  him  that  I 
would  answer  the  rest  of  his  interrogatories  on  condition 
only  that  he  should  agree  to  answer  as  many  for  me.  He 
made  no  intimation  at  the  time  of  the  proposition,  nor  did 
he  in  his  reply  allude  at  all  to  that  suggestion  of  mine.  I 
do  liim  no  injustice  in  saying  that  he  occupied  at  least  half 
of  his  reply  in  dealing  with  me  as  though  I  had  refused  to 
answer  his  interrogatories.  I  now  propose  that  I  will 
answer  any  of  the  interrogatories,  upon  condition  that  he 
will  answer  questions  from  me  not  exceeding  the  same  num- 
ber. I  give  liim  an  opportunity  to  respond.  The  Judge 
remains  silent.  I  now  say  that  I  will  answer  his  interroga- 
tories, whether  he  answers  mine  or  not  [applause] :  and  that 
after  I  have  done  so,  I  shall  propound  mine  to  him.  [Ap- 
plause.] 

I  have  supposed  myself,  since  the  organization  of  the 
Republican  party  at  Bloomington,  in  May,  1856,  bound 
as  a  party  man  by  the  platforms  of  the  party,  then  and 
since.  If  in  any  interrogatories  which  I  shall  answer  I  go 
beyond  the  scope  of  what  is  within  those  platforms,  it  will 
be  perceived  that  no  one  is  responsible  but  myself. 

Having  said  thus  much,  I  will  take  up  the  Judge's  inter- 
rogatories as  I  find  them  printed  in  the  Chicago  Times,  and 
answer  them  seriatim.    In  order  that  there  may  be  no 


130  Life  of  Abkaham  Lincoln. 

mistake  about  it,  I  have  copied  the  interrogatories  in 
writing,  and  also  my  answers  to  them.  The  first  one  of 
these  interrogatories  is  in  these  words: 

Question  1.  "I  desire  to  know  whether  Lincoln  to-day 
stands,  as  he  did  in  1854,  in  favor  of  the  unconditional 
repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  law?" 

Answer.  I  do  not  now,  nor  ever  did,  stand  in  favor  of 
the  unconditional  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  law. 

Q.  2.  "I  desire  him  to  answer  whether  he  stands 
pledged  to-day,  as  he  did  in  1854,  against  the  admission 
of  any  more  slave  States  into  the  LTnion,  even  if  the  people 
want  them?" 

A.  I  do  not  now,  nor  ever  did,  stand  pledged  against 
the  admission  of  any  more  slave  states  into  the  Union. 

Q.  3.  "I  want  to  know  whether  he  stands  pledged 
against  the  admission  of  a  new  State  in  the  LTnion,  with 
such  a  Constitution  as  the  people  of  that  State  may  see  fit 
to  make?" 

A.  I  do  not  stand  pledged  against  the  admission  of  a 
new  State  into  the  Union,  with  such  a  Constitution  as  the 
people  of  that  State  may  see  fit  to  make. 

Q.  4.  "I  want  to  know  whether  he  stands  pledged 
to  the  abohtion  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia?"' 

A.  I  do  not  stand  pledged  to-day  to  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Q.  5.  "  I  desire  him  to  answer  whether  he  stands  pledged 
to  the  prohibition  of  the  slave-trade  between  the  different 
States?" 

A.  I  do  not  stand  pledged  to  the  prohibition  of  the 
slave-trade  between  the  different  States. 

Q.  6.  "  I  desire  to  know  whether  he  stands  pledged  to 
prohibit  slavery  in  all  the  Territories  of  the  United  States, 
North  as  well  as  South  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  line?" 

A.    I  am  impliedly,  if  not  expressly,  pledged  to  a  beUef 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  131 

in  the  right  and  duty  of  Congress  to  prohibit  slavery  in  all 
the  United  States  Territories.     [Great  applause.] 

Q.  7.  "I  desire  him  to  answer  whether  he  is  opposed 
to  the  acquisition  of  any  new  territory  unless  slavery  is 
first  prohibited  therein?" 

A.  I  am  not  generally  opposed  to  honest  acquisition 
of  territory;  and  in  any  given  case,  I  would  or  would  not 
oppose  such  acquisition,  accordingly  as  I  might  think  such 
acquisition  would  or  would  not  agitate  the  slavery  question 
among  ourselves. 

Now,  my  friends,  it  will  be  perceived,  upon  an  examina- 
tion of  these  questions  and  answers,  that  so  far  I  have  only 
answered  that  I  was  not  pledged  to  tMs,  that  or  the  other. 
The  Judge  has  not  framed  his  interrogatories  to  ask  me 
anything  more  than  this,  and  I  have  answered  in  strict 
accordance  with  the  interrogatories,  and  have  answered 
truly  that  I  am  not  pledged  at  all  upon  any  of  the  points 
to  which  I  have  answered.  But  I  am  not  disposed  to 
hang  upon  the  exact  form  of  his  interrogatory.  I  am 
rather  disposed  to  take  up  at  least  some  of  these  questions, 
and  state  what  I  really  think  upon  them. 

As  to  the  first  one,  in  regard  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  law,  I 
have  never  hesitated  to  say,  and  I  do  not  now  hesitate  to 
say,  that  I  think,  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  the  people  of  the  Southern  States  are  entitled  to  a 
Congressional  Slave  law.  Having  said  that,  I  have  had 
nothing  to  say  in  regard  to  the  existing  Fugitive  Slave  law, 
further  than  that  I  think  it  should  have  been  framed  so 
as  to  be  free  from  some  of  the  objections  that  pertain  to 
it,  without  lessening  its  efficiency.  And  inasmuch  as  we 
are  not  now  in  an  agitation  in  regard  to  an  alteration  or 
modification  of  that  law,  I  would  not  be  the  man  to  intro- 
duce it  as  a  new  subject  of  agitation  upon  the  general 
question  of  slavery. 


132  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

In  regard  to  the  other  question,  of  whether  I  am  pledged 
to  the  admission  of  any  more  Slave  States  into  the  Union, 
I  state  to  you  very  frankly  that  I  would  be  exceedingly 
sorry  ever  to  be  put  in  a  position  of  ha^^ng  to  pass  upon 
that  question.  I  should  be  exceedingly  glad  to  know  that 
there  would  never  be  another  slave  State  admitted  into  the 
Union;  but,  I  must  add,  that  if  slavery  shall  be  kept  out 
of  the  Territories  during  the  Territorial  existence  of  any 
one  given  Territory,  and  then  the  people  shall,  ha\'ing  a 
fair  chance  and  a  clear  field,  when  they  come  to  adopt  the 
Constitution,  do  such  an  extraordinary  thing  as  to  adopt 
a  slave  Constitution,  uninfluenced  by  the  actual  presence 
of  the  institution  among  them,  I  see  no  alternative  if  we 
own  the  country,  but  to  admit  them  into  the  Union. 
[Applause.] 

The  third  interrogatory  is  answered  by  the  answer  to  the 
second,  it  being,  as  I  conceive,  the  same  as  the  second. 

The  fourth  one  is  in  regard  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
the  District  of  Colmiibia.  In  relation  to  that,  I  have  my 
mind  very  distinctly  made  up.  I  should  be  exceedingly 
glad  to  see  slavery  abolished  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 
I  believe  that  Congress  possesses  the  constitutional  power 
to  abolish  it.  Yet,  as  a  member  of  Congress,  I  should  not, 
with  my  present  views,  be  in  favor  of  endeavoring  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  imless  it  would  be  upon 
these  conditions :  First,  that  the  abolition  should  be  grad- 
ual ;  Second,  that  it  should  be  on  a  vote  of  the  majority  of 
qualified  voters  in  the  District,  and  Third,  that  compensa- 
tion should  be  made  to  unwilling  owners.  With  these 
three  conditions,  I  confess  I  would  be  exceedingly  glad  to 
see  Congress  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and,  in  the  language  of  Henry  Clay,  "sweep  from  our 
Capital  that  foul  blot  upon  our  nation." 

In  regard  to  the  fifth  interrogatory,  I  must  say  here,  that 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  133 

as  to  the  question  of  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade  between 
the  different  States,  I  can  truly  answer,  as  I  have,  that  I 
am  pledged  to  nothing  about  it.  It  is  a  subject  to  which  I 
have  not  given  that  mature  consideration  that  would  make 
me  feel  authorized  to  state  a  position  so  as  to  [hold  myself 
entirely  bound  by  it.  In  other  words,  that  question  has 
never  been  prominently  enough  before  me  to  induce  me 
to  investigate  whether  we  really  have  the  constitutional 
power  to  do  it.  I  could  investigate  it  if  I  had  sufficient 
time  to  bring  myself  to  a  conclusion  upon  that  subject; 
but  I  have  not  done  so,  and  I  say  so  frankly  to  you  here, 
and  to  Judge  Douglas.  I  must  say,  however,  that  if  I 
should  be  of  opinion  that  Congress  does  possess  the  consti- 
tutional power  to  abolish  slave  trading  among  the  different 
States,  I  should  still  not  be  in  favor  of  the  exercise  of  that 
power,  unless  upon  some  conservative  principle  as  I  con- 
ceive it,  akin  to  what  I  have  said  in  relation  to  the  aboli- 
tion of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

My  answer  as  to  whether  I  desire  that  slavery  should  be 
prohibited  in  all  the  Territories  of  the  United  States,  is  full 
and  explicit  within  itself,  and  can  not  be  made  clearer  by 
any  comments  of  mine.  So  I  suppose,  in  regard  to  the 
question  whether  I  am  opposed  to  the  acquisition  of  any 
more  territory  unless  slavery  is  first  prohibited  therein, 
my  answer  is  such  that  I  could  add  nothing  by  way  of 
illustration,  or  making  myself  better  understood,  than  the 
answer  which  I  have  placed  in  writing. 

Now,  in  all  this,  the  Judge  has  me,  and  he  has  me  on 
the  record.  I  suppose  he  had  flattered  himself  that  I  was 
really  entertaining  one  set  of  opinions  for  one  place,  and 
another  set  for  another  place— that  I  was  afraid  to  say 
at  one  place  what  I  uttered  at  another.  What  I  am  saying 
here,  I  suppose  I  say  to  a  vast  audience  as  strongly  tending 
to  Abolitionism  as  any  audience  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  and 


134  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

I  believe  I  am  saying  that  which,  if  it  would  be  offensive 
to  any  persons  and  render  them  enemies  to  myself,  would 
be  ofTensive  to  persons  in  this  audience. 

At  Jonesboro,  in  the  lower  part  of  the  State,  where  their 
third  debate  was  held,  Douglas  re-iterated  his  often-refuted 
charges  of  ultraism  against  Lincoln,  wliich  the  latter  just  as 
coolly  and  convincingly  disposed  of,  as  if  there  had  been  no 
unreasonable  pertinacity  in  making  imjust  accusations 
against  him.  After  bringing  home  the  sin  of  re-opening 
agitation,  to  the  door  of  Douglas,  he  proceeded  to  show  as 
extravagant  radicalism  in  the  recorded  professions  of  the 
Democracy  as  of  any  persons  acting  with  the  Repubhcan 
party.  He  then  completely  riddled  the  "unfriendly  legis- 
lation" theory  of  Douglas,  exliibiting  its  utter  inconsistency 
with  fidelity  to  his  constitutional  oaths,  so  long  as  he  in- 
dorsed the  validity  of  the  political  dogmas  of  Judge  Taney, 
in  his  Dred  Scott  opinion. 

In  the  fourth  debate,  at  Charleston,  the  attempts  of  Doug- 
las to  make  capital  out  of  the  Mexican  War  question  were 
appropriately  disposed  of.  Here,  also,  Douglas  was  con- 
victed, on  conclusive  testimony,  of  having  stricken  out  of  the 
Toombs  Kansas  Bill  a  clause  requiring  the  Constitution 
that  should  be  formed  under  its  provisions,  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  people.  Tliis  had  an  important  bearing  on 
one  objection  upon  wliich  Douglas  based  his  Anti-Lecomp- 
ton  rebellion. 

The  fifth  joint  discussion  was  held  at  Galesburg,  the 
sixth  at  Quincy,  and  the  last  at  Alton.  The  main  topics 
and  methods  of  these  debates,  as  of  the  rest,  did  not  sub- 
stantially differ  from  those  of  the  speeches  at  Chicago  and 
Springfield. 

The  Alton  debate  occurred  on  the  15th  of  October.  As 
the  day  of  the  election  (November  2d)  approached,  it  be- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  135 

came  more  and  more  evident  that  strong  efforts  were  mak- 
ing, aided  by  the  advice  of  Senator  Crittenden  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  Vice-President  Breckinridge  on  the  other,  to 
secure  a  diversion  of  "Conservative"  votes — American, 
Democratic,  and  Whig — in  the  central  and  southern  parts 
of  the  State,  in  favor  of  Douglas.  These  endeavors  suc- 
ceeded to  such  an  extent  that,  with  the  immense  advantages 
the  Douglas  party  had  in  their  unequal  and  utterly  unfair 
apportionment  of  Legislative  Districts,  and  in  the  lucky 
proportion  of  Democratic  Senators  holding  over,  they  se- 
cured a  small  majority  in  each  branch  of  the  new  Legisla- 
ture. The  Senate  had  14  Democrats  and  11  Repubhcans — 
the  House  40  Democrats  and  35  Republicans.  The  popular 
voice  was  for  Lincoln,  by  more  than  four  thousand  majority, 
over  Douglas. 

Admiration  of  the  manly  bearing  and  gallant  conduct  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  throughout  this  campaign,  which  had  early 
assumed  a  national  importance,  led  to  the  spontaneous 
suggestion  of  his  name,  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  as  a 
candidate  for  the  Presidency.  From  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  the  contest,  he  had  proved  himself  an  able  states- 
man, an  effective  orator,  a  true  gentleman,  and  an  honest 
man.  While,  therefore,  Douglas  was  returned  to  the 
Senate,  there  was  a  general  presentiment  that  a  juster  ver- 
dict was  yet  to  be  had,  and  that  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  cause 
would  be  ultimately  vindicated  before  the  people.  That 
time  was  to  come,  even  sooner,  perhaps,  than  his  friends 
in  their  momentary  despondency,  expected.  From  that 
hour  to  the  present,  the  fame  of  Abraham  Lincoln  has  been 
enlarging  and  ripening,  and  the  love  of  his  noble  character 
has  become  more  and  more  deeply  fixed  in  the  popular 
heart. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Speeches  of  1859-'60. 

During  the  year  following  his  great  contest  with  Douglas, 
which  had  resulted  in  a  barren  triumph  through  the  in- 
justice of  the  previous  Democratic  Legislature  in  refusing 
a  fair  and  equal  apportionment,  Mr.  Lincoln  again  gave 
himself  almost  exclusively  to  professional  labors.  During 
the  autumn  campaign  of  1859,  however,  when  Douglas 
visited  Ohio,  and  endeavored  to  turn  the  tide  of  battle  in 
favor  of  the  Democracy  in  that  State,  so  as  to  secure  the 
re-election  of  Mr.  Pugh,  and  to  gain  other  partisan  benefits, 
an  earnest  invitation  was  sent  to  Lincoln  to  assist  the 
Republicans  in  their  canvass.  He  complied,  and  delivered 
two  most  effective  speeches  in  Ohio,  one  at  Columbus,  and 
the  other  at  Cincinnati. 

In  his  speech  at  the  former  place  (September  16,  1859), 
he  began  by  noticing  a  statement  which  he  read  from  the 
central  Democratic  organ,  averring  that  in  the  canvass  of 
the  previous  year  with  Douglas,  "Mr.  Lincoln  declared  in 
favor  of  negro  suffrage."  This  charge  he  quickly  dis- 
posed of,  showing  by  quotations  from  his  printed  speeches 
of  that  canvass,  that  he  distinctly  and  repeatedly  declared 
himself  opposed  to  the  policy  thus  attributed  to  him. 

Mr.  Lincoln  then  noticed  the  recent  Columbus  speech 
of  Mr.  Douglas,  in  which  he  "dealt  exclusively"  in  the 
"negro  topics"  of  discussion.  Mr.  Lincoln  spoke  at  some 
length  on  these  issues,  and  thoroughly  exposed  the  dis- 
tinctions between  genuine  popular  sovereignty,  and  the 

137 


138  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

spurious  sort  which  Douglas  and  his  friends  passed  off  for 
the  reahty.  He  then  went  on  to  notice  the  great  amount 
of  trouble  which  Mr.  Douglas  had  had  with  his  spurious 
popular  sovereignty,  and  to  illustrate  how  "his  explana- 
tions explanatory  of  explanations  explained  are  intermin- 
able. The  Harper's  Magazine  essay  of  Douglas  on  this 
subject  was  dissected,  and  left  without  any  logical  vitality 
or  cohesion.  Two  or  three  brief  points  in  the  remainder  of 
this  speech  are  subjoined: 

States  and  Territories. 

There  is  another  little  difficulty  about  this  matter  of 
treating  the  Territories  and  States  alike  in  all  things,  to 
which  I  ask  your  attention,  and  I  shall  leave  this  branch 
of  the  case.  If  there  is  no  difference  between  them,  why 
not  make  the  Territories  States  at  once?  What  is  the 
reason  that  Kansas  was  not  fit  to  come  into  the  Union 
when  it  was  organized  into  a  Territory,  in  Judge  Douglas' 
view?  Can  any  of  you  tell  any  reason  why  it  should  not 
have  come  into  the  Union  at  once?  They  are,  as  he  thinks, 
to  decide  upon  the  slavery  question— the  largest  and  most 
important  with  which  they  could  possibly  deal — what 
could  they  do  by  coming  into  the  Union  that  they  are  not 
fit  to  do,  according  to  his  view,  by  staying  out  of  it?  Oh, 
they  are  not  fit  to  sit  in  Congress  and  decide  upon  the  rates 
of  postage,  or  questions  of  ad  valorem  or  specific  duties  on 
foreign  goods,  or  live  oak  timber  contracts.  [Laughter.] 
They  are  not  fit  to  decide  these  vastly  important  matters, 
which  are  national  in  their  import,  but  they  are  fit,  "from 
the  jump"  to  decide  this  little  negro  question.  But, 
gentlemen,  the  case  is  too  plain;  I  occupy  too  much  time 
on  this  head  and  I  pass  on. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  139 

Stand  by  the  Doctrines  of  the  Fathers. 

I  see  in  the  Judge's  speech  here  a  short  sentence  in 
these  words:  "Our  fathers,  when  they  formed  this  Gov- 
ernment under  which  we  live,  understood  this  question 
just  as  well,  even  better  than  we  do  now."  That  is  true. 
I  stick  to  that.  [Great  cheers  and  laughter.]  I  will  stand 
by  Judge  Douglas  in  that  to  the  bitter  end.  [Renewed 
laughter.]  And  now,  Judge  Douglas,  come  and  stand  by 
me,  and  faithfully  show  how  they  acted,  understanding  it 
better  than  we  do.  All  I  ask  of  you,  Judge  Douglas,  is  to 
stick  to  the  proposition  that  the  men  of  the  Revolution 
understood  this  subject  better  than  we  do  now,  and 
with  ilmt  better  understanding  they  acted  better  than  you  are 
trying  to  act  now.    [Applause.] 

At  Cincinnati,  on  the  17th  of  September,  Mr.  Lincoln 
addressed  an  immense  audience  on  the  same  general  politi- 
cal topics,  and  in  his  ablest  manner.  He  did  not  repeat 
or  merely  play  variations  upon  his  Columbus  speech,  but 
adopted  new  modes  of  illustrating  and  enforcing  his  views. 
He  was  listened  to  with  an  interest  rarely  excited  by  any 
orator  who  ever  spoke  in  this  city,  even  in  the  most  exciting 
campaign.  No  extracts  can  give  a  true  idea  of  its  ability 
and  pov/er  as  a  whole.  Alluding  to  Douglas'  perversions 
of  his  views,  and  to  the  charge  of  wishing  to  disturb  slavery 
in  the  States  by  "shooting  over"  the  line,  Mr.  Lincoln 
said: 

Shooting  over  the  Line. 

It  has  occurred  to  me  here  to-night,  that  if  I  ever  do 
shoot  over  at  the  people  on  the  other  side  of  the  line  in  a 
slave  State,  and  purpose  to  do  so,  keeping  my  skin  safe, 
that  I  have  now  about  the  best  chance  I  shall  ever  have. 
[Laughter  and  applause.]  I  should  not  wonder  if  there 
are  some  Kentuckians  about  this  audience ;  we  are  close  to 


140  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Kentucky,  and  whether  that  be  so  or  not,  we  are  on  ele- 
vated ground,  and  by  speaking  distinctly,  I  should  not 
wonder  if  some  of  the  Kentuckians  should  hear  me  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river.  [Laughter.]  For  that  reason  I 
propose  to  address  a  portion  of  what  I  have  to  say  to  the 
Kentuckians. 

I  say,  then,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  Kentuckians, 
that  I  am  what  they  call,  as  I  understand  it,  a  "  Black 
Republican."  [Applause  and  laughter.]  I  think  that 
slavery  is  wrong,  morally,  socially  and  politically.  I  desire 
that  it  should  be  no  further  spread  in  these  United  States, 
and  I  should  not  object  if  it  should  gradually  terminate 
in  the  whole  Union.  [Applause.]  While  I  say  this  for 
myself,  I  say  to  you,  Kentuckians,  that  I  understand  that 
you  differ  radically  with  me  upon  this  proposition;  that 
you  believe  slavery  is  a  good  thing:  that  slavery  is  right; 
that  it  ought  to  be  extended  and  perpetuated  in  this  Union. 
Now,  there  being  this  broad  difference  between  us,  I  do  not 
pretend,  in  addressing  myself  to  you,  Kentuckians,  to 
attempt  proselyting  you  at  all ;  that  would  be  a  vain  effort. 
I  do  not  enter  upon  it.  I  only  propose  to  try  to  show  you 
that  you  ought  to  nominate  for  the  next  Presidency,  at 
Charlestown,  my  distinguished  friend.  Judge  Douglas. 
[Applause.]  In  whatever  there  is  a  difference  between 
you  and  him,  I  understand  he  is  as  sincerely  for  you,  and 
more  wisely  for  you,  than  you  are  for  yourselves.  [Ap- 
plause.] I  will  try  to  demonstrate  that  proposition. 
Understand,  now,  I  say  that  I  believe  he  is  as  sincerely  for 
you,  and  more  wisely  for  you,  than  you  are  for  yourselves. 

Mr.  Lincoln  then  went  on  to  show  that  Douglas  was 
constantly  endeavoring  to  mold  "the  pubhc  opinion  of  the 
North  to  the  ends"  desired  by  the  South,  that  he  only 
differed  from  the  South  in  so  far  as  was  necessary  to  retain 
any  hold  upon  his  own  section;  that,  not  daring  to  main- 


Life  op  Abraham  Lincoln.  141 

tain  that  slavery  is  right,  he  professed  an  indifference 
whether  it  was  "  voted  up  or  voted  down  " — thus  indirectly- 
advancing  the  opinion  that  it  is  not  wrong;  and  that  he 
had  taken  a  step  in  the  advance,  by  doing  what  would  not 
have  been  thought  of  by  any  man  five  years  ago,  to  wit : — 
denying  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  asserts  any 
principle  intended  to  be  applicable  to  black  men,  or  that 
properly  includes  them.  The  tendency  of  this  doctrine 
"  is  to  bring  the  public  mind  to  the  conclusion  that  when 
men  are  spoken  of,  the  negro  is  not  meant;  that  when 
negroes  are  not  spoken  of,  brutes  alone  are  contemplated. " 
Of  the  certainty  of  a  speedy  Republican  triumph  in  the 
nation,  and  of  its  results,  Mr.  Lincoln  said : 

What  the  Opposition  Mean  to  do. 

I  will  tell  you,  so  far  as  I  am  authorized  to  speak  for 
the  Opposition,  what  we  mean  to  do  with  you.  We  mean 
to  treat  you,  as  nearly  as  we  possibly  can,  as  Washington, 
Jefferson,  and  Madison  treated  you.  [Cheers.]  We  mean 
to  leave  you  alone,  and  in  no  way  to  interfere  with  your 
institution;  to  abide  by  all  and  every  compromise  of  the 
Constitution,  and,  in  a  word,  coming  back  to  the  original 
proposition,  to  treat  you,  so  far  as  degenerated  men  (if  we 
have  degenerated)  may,  imitating  the  examples  of  those 
noble  fathers — Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Madison.  [Ap- 
plause.] We  mean  to  remember  that  you  are  good  as  we; 
that  there  is  no  difference  between  us,  other  than  the 
difference  of  circumstances.  We  mean  to  recognize  and 
bear  in  mind  always  that  you  have  as  good  hearts  in  your 
bosoms  as  other  people,  or  as  we  claim  to  have,  and  treat 
you  accordingly.  We  mean  to  marry  your  girls,  when  we 
have  a  chance — the  white  ones  I  mean — [laughter]  and  I 
have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  I  once  did  get  a  chance 
in  that  way.     [A  voice,  "good  for  you,"  and  applause.] 


142  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Plain  Questions  to  the  Disunion  Democracy. 

I  have  told  you  what  we  mean  to  do.  I  want  to  know, 
now,  when  that  thing  takes  place,  what  do  you  mean  to  do. 
I  often  hear  it  intimated  that  you  mean  to  divide  the 
Union  whenever  a  Republican,  or  anything  like  it,  is  elected 
President  of  the  United  States.  [A  voice,  "That  is  so."] 
"  That  is  so, "  one  of  them  says.  I  wonder  if  he  is  a  Ken- 
tuckian.  [A  voice,  "  He  is  a  Douglas  man. "]  Well  then,  I 
want  to  know  what  you  are  going  to  do  with  your  lialf  of  it? 
[Applause  and  laughter.]  Are  you  going  to  split  the  Ohio 
down  through,  and  push  your  half  off  a  piece?  Or  are  you 
going  to  keep  it  right  along  side  of  us  outrageous  fellows? 
Or  are  you  going  to  build  up  a  wall  some  way  between  your 
country  and  ours,  by  wliich  that  movable  property  of  yours 
can't  come  over  here  any  more,  and  you  lose  it?  Do  you 
think  you  can  better  yourselves  on  that  subject,  by  leaving 
us  here  under  no  obligation  whatever  to  return  those 
specimens  of  your  movable  property  that  come  liither? 
You  have  divided  the  Union  because  we  would  not  do 
right  with  you,  as  you  think,  upon  that  subject;  when  we 
cease  to  be  under  obligations  to  do  anytliing  for  you,  how 
much  better  off  do  you  think  you  will  be?  Will  you  make 
war  upon  us  and  kill  us  all?  Why,  gentlemen,  I  think  you 
are  as  gallant  and  as  brave  men  as  live;  that  you  can  fight 
as  bravely  in  a  good  cause,  man  for  man,  as  any  other 
people  living;  that  you  have  shown  yourselves  capable  of 
this  upon  various  occasions ;  but,  man  for  man,  you  are  not 
better  than  we  are,  and  there  are  not  so  many  of  you  as  there 
are  of  us.  [Loud  cheering.]  You  will  never  make  much 
of  a  hand  at  whipping  us.  If  we  were  fewer  in  numbers 
than  you,  I  think  that  you  could  whip  us ;  if  wo  were  equal, 
it  would  likely  be  a  drawn  battle ;  but  being  inferior  in  num- 
bers, you  will  make  nothing  by  attempting  to  master  us. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  143 

What  Republicans  Must  Do. 

I  say  that  we  must  not  interfere  with  the  institution  of 
slavery  in  the  United  States  where  it  exists,  because  the 
Constitution  forbids  it,  and  the  general  welfare  does  not 
require  us  to  do  so.  We  must  not  withhold  an  efficient 
fugitive  slave  law,  because  the  Constitution  requires  us,  as 
I  understand  it,  not  to  withhold  such  a  law,  but  we  must 
prevent  the  outspreading  of  the  institution,  because  neither 
the  Constitution  nor  the  general  welfare  requires  us  to 
extend  it.  We  must  prevent  the  revival  of  the  African 
slave  trade,  and  the  enacting  by  Congress  of  a  Territorial 
slave-code.  We  must  prevent  each  of  these  things  being 
done  by  either  Congresses  or  Courts.  The  People  of  these 
United  States  are  the  rightful  masters  of  "both 
Congresses  and  Courts  [applause],  not  to  overthrow  the 
Constitution,  but  to  overthrow  the  men  who  pervert  that 
Constitution.     [Applause.] 

After  expressing  an  earnest  desire  "  that  all  the  elements 
of  the  Opposition  should  unite  in  the  next  Presidential 
election  and  in  all  future  time,"  on  a  right  and  just  basis; 
and  after  saying,  "There  are  plenty  of  men  in  the  slave 
States  that  are  altogether  good  enough  for  me  to  be  either 
President  or  Vice-President,  provided  they  will  profess 
sympathy  with  our  purpose  in  the  election,  and  will  place 
themselves  upon  such  ground  that  our  men,  upon  principle, 
can  vote  for  them, "  Mr.  Lincoln  brought  his  remarlvs  to  a 
close. 

In  the  spring  of  1860,  Mr.  Lincoln  yielded  to  the  calls, 
which  came  to  him  from  the  East  for  liis  presence  and  aid 
in  the  exciting  political  canvasses  there  going  on.  He  spoke 
at  various  places  in  Connecticut,  New  Hampshire,  and 
Rhode  Island,  and  also  in  New  York  City,  to  very  large 


144  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

audiences,  and  was  everywhere  warmly  welcomed.  Per- 
haps one  of  the  greatest  speeches  of  his  life,  was  that  de- 
livered by  him  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  in  New  York,  on 
the  27th  of  February,  1860.  A  crowded  audience  was 
present,  which  received  Mr.  Lincoln  with  enthusiastic 
demonstrations.  William  Cullen  Bryant  presided,  and 
introduced  the  speaker  in  terms  of  high  compliment  to  the 
West,  and  to  the  "eminent  citizen"  of  that  section,  whose 
political  labors  in  1856  and  '58  were  appropriately  eulo- 
gized. 

The  Cooper  Institute  Speech. 

Mr.  Lincoln  then  proceeded  to  address  his  auditors  in 
an  extended  and  closely-reasoned  argument,  proving  in  the 
most  convincing  manner  that  the  Republican  party  stands 
where  "the  fathers"  stood  on  the  slavery  question,  and 
eloquently  enforcing  the  sentiment  expressed  by  Mr. 
Douglas  in  liis  Columbus  speech  of  the  previous  autumn, 
namely:  "Our  fathers,  when  they  framed  the  government 
under  which  we  live,  undetstood  this  question  just  as  well, 
and  even  better  than  we  do  now. "  The  argument  and  its 
illustrations  were  masterly,  the  logic  unanswerable. 

A  few  paragraphs  of  his  concluding  remarks  are  all 
that  can  be  given  here. 

What  Will  Satisfy  the  Southern  Democracy? 

A  few  words  now  to  Republicans.  It  is  exceedingly  de- 
sirable that  all  parts  of  this  great  Confederacy  shall  be  at 
peace,  and  in  harmony  one  with  another.  Let  us  Repub- 
licans do  our  part  to  have  it  so.  Even  though  much  pro- 
voked, let  us  do  nothing  through  passion  and  ill  temper. 
Even  though  the  Southern  people  will  not  so  much  as 
listen  to  us,  let  us  calmly  consider  their  demands,  and 
yield  to  them,  if,  in  our  deliberate  view  of  our  duty,  we 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  145 

possibly  can.  Judging  by  all  they  say  and  do,  and  by  the 
subject  and  nature  of  their  controversy  with  us,  let  us  de- 
termine, if  we  can,  what  will  satisfy  them. 

Will  they  be  satisfied  if  fhe  Territories  be  unconditionally 
surrendered  to  them?  We  know  they  will  not.  In  all  their 
present  complaints  against  us,  the  Territories  are  scarcely 
mentioned.  Invasions  and  insurrections  are  the  rage 
now.  Will  it  satisfy  them,  if,  in  the  future,  we  have  noth- 
ing to  do  with  invasions  and  insurrections?  We  know  it 
will  not.  We  so  Imow,  because  we  know  we  never  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  invasions  and  insurrections ;  and  yet  this 
total  abstaining  does  not  exempt  us  from  the  charge  and 
the  denunciation. 

The  question  recurs.  What  will  satisfy  them?  Simply 
this :  We  must  not  only  let  them  alone,  but  we  must,  some- 
how, convince  them  that  we  do  let  them  alone.  This,  we 
know  by  experience,  is  no  easy  task.  We  have  been  so 
trying  to  convince  them,  from  the  very  beginning  of  our 
organization,  but  with  no  success.  In  all  our  platforms 
and  speeches,  we  have  constantly  protested  our  purpose 
to  let  them  alone;  but  this  has  had  no  tendency  to  con- 
vince them.  Alike  unavailing  to  convince  them  is  the 
fact,  that  they  never  detected  a  man  of  us  in  any  attempt 
to  disturb  them. 

These  natural  and  apparently  adequate  means  all  fail- 
ing, what  will  convince  them?  This,  and  this  only:  cease 
to  call  slavery  vrrong,  and  join  them  in  calling  it  right.  All 
this  must  be  done  thoroughly— done  in  acts  as  well  as  in 
words.     *     *     * 

If  our  sense  of  duty  forbids  this,  then  let  us  stand  by  our 
duty  fearlessly  and  effectively.  Let  us  be  diverted  by  none 
of  those  sophistical  contrivances  wherewith  we  are  so  in- 
dustriously plied  and  belabored— contrivances  such  as 
groping  for  some  middle  ground  between  the  right  and 


146  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

the  wrong,  vain  as  the  search  for  a  man  who  should  be 
neither  a  living  man  nor  a  dead  man — such  as  a  policy 
of  "don't  care"  on  a  question  about  which  all  true  men 
do  care — such  as  Union  appeals,  beseeching  true  Union  men 
to  yield  to  Disunionists,  reversing  the  Divine  rule,  and  call- 
ing not  the  sinners,  but  the  righteous  to  repentance — such 
as  invocations  of  Wasliington,  imploring  men  to  unsay  what 
Washington  said,  and  undo  what  Washington  did.  Neither 
let  us  be  slandered  from  our  duty  by  false  accusations 
against  us,  nor  frightened  from  it  by  menaces  of  destrliction 
to  the  Government,  nor  of  dungeons  to  ourselves.  Let  us 
have  faith  that  right  makes  might;  and  in  that  faith,  let 
us,  to  the  end,  dare  to  do  our  duty,  as  we  understand  it. 

This  is  the  last  of  the  great  speeches  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
prior  to  the  election  of  1860,  of  which  there  is  any  complete 
report.  It  forms  a  brilliant  close  to  this  period  of  his  life, 
and  a  fitting  prelude  to  that  on  which  he  was  about  to 
enter. 

It  was  during  this  visit  to  New  York  that  the  following 
incident  occurred,  as  related  by  a  teacher  in  the  Five 
Points  House  of  Industry,  in  that  city. 

Our  Sunday-school  in  the  Five  Points  was  assembled,  one 
Sabbath  morning,  a  few  months  since,  when  I  noticed  a  tall 
and  remarkable  looking  man  enter  the  room  and  take  a  seat 
among  us.  He  listened  with  fixed  attention  to  our  exer- 
cises, and  his  countenance  manifested  such  genuine  interest 
that  I  approached  liim  and  suggested  that  he  might  be 
wilHng  to  say  something  to  the  children.  He  accepted  the 
invitation  with  evident  pleasure,  and  coming  forward  began 
a  simple  address,  which  at  once  fascinated  every  little 
hearer  and  hushed  the  room  into  silence.  His  language  was 
strikingly  beautiful,  and  his  tones  musical  with  intensest 
feeling.     The  little  faces  around  would  droop  into  sad  con- 


Life  of  Abhaham  Lincoln.  147 

viction  as  he  uttered  sentences  of  warning,  and  would 
brighten  into  sunshine  as  he  spoke  cheerful  words  of  prom- 
ise. Once  or  twice  he  atempted  to  close  his  remarks,  but 
the  imperative  shout  of  "Go  on!"  "Oh,  do  go  on!"  would 
compel  him  to  resume.  As  I  looked  upon  the  gaunt  and 
sinewy  frame  of  the  stranger,  and  marked  his  powerful  head 
and  determined  features,  now  touched  into  softness  by  the 
impressions  of  the  moment,  I  felt  an  irrepressible  curiosity 
to  learn  something  more  about  him,  and  when  he  was  quiet- 
ly leaving  the  room,  I  begged  to  know  his  name.  He 
courteously  replied,  "It  is  Abraham  Lincoln,  from 
Illinois!" 


CHAPTER  IX. 
Mr.  Lincoln's  Nomination  for  the  Presidency. 

The  Republican  National  Convention  met  at  Chicago  on 
the  16th  of  May,  1860,  to  nominate  candidates  for  Presi- 
dent and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States.  At  the  date 
of  its  assembling,  the  great  quadrennial  convention  of  the 
Democratic  party  had  been  held  at  Charleston,  and,  after 
nearly  two  weeks'  session,  had  adjourned  without  any 
agreement  upon  either  platform  or  candidates.  Douglas, 
with  his  Freeport  record,  which  had  become  necessary  in 
order  to  accomplish  his  temporary  purpose,  had  proved  an 
irreconcilably  disturbing  element  in  that  convention.  The 
nomination  of  Douglas  by  a  united  Democracy  had  been 
demonstrated  to  be  impossible,  and  the  only  alternative  of 
his  withdrawal  or  an  incurable  disruption  was  presented. 
Subsequently,  a  "Constitutional  Union"  convention  had 
assembled  at  Baltimore,  and  nominated  a  Presidental 
ticket,  with  no  other  definitely  avowed  object  than  that  pro- 
fessed in  common  by  all  citizens,  everywhere,  of  supporting 
the  Constitution  and  the  Union.  All  eyes  were  now  turned 
toward  Chicago,  as  the  point  at  which  the  problem  of  the 
next  Presidency  was  to  be  definitely  solved. 

Before  the  Republican  National  Convention  met,  the 
names  of  many  distinguished  statesmen  had  been  proposed 
for  the  first  place  on  the  Presidential  ticket,  and  their  merits 
and  availability  had  been  extensively  discussed.  In  this 
preliminary  canvassing  there  had  been  no  bitterness  or  un- 
seemly personalities.    There  was  a  general  indication  of 

149 


150  Life   of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

harmony  in  ultimate  action,  and  of  unbroken  union  upon 
whatever  ticket  should  be  selected. 

The  first  day  of  the  Convention  was  spent  in  organizing 
and  on  the  second  day  the  committee,  selected  for  that  pur- 
pose, reported  a  platform  of  principles  which  was  unani- 
mously adopted,  and  has  been  strongly  approved  by  the 
people. 

On  the  morning  of  the  18th,  amid  the  most  intense,  though 
subdued  excitement  of  the  twelve  thousand  people  inside  of 
the  "  Wigwam,"  in  which  the  convention  was  held,  and  amid 
the  anxious  solicitude  and  suspense  of  the  still  greater  num- 
bers outside,  who  could  not  gain  admission,  it  was  voted  to 
proceed  at  once  to  ballot  for  a  candidate  for  President  of 
the  United  States.  Seven  names  were  formally  presented 
in  the  following  order: 

William  H.  Seward,  of  New  York;  Abraham  Lincoln, 
of  Illinois;  William  L.  Dayton,  of  New  Jersey;  Simon 
Cameron,  of  Pennsylvania;  Salmon  P.  Chase,  of  Ohio; 
Edward  Bates,  of  Missouri;  and  John  McLe.\n  of  Ohio. 

Loud  and  long-continued  applause  greeted  the  first  two 
of  these  names,  in  particular,  between  which  it  was  soon 
apparent  that  the  chief  contest  was  to  be. 

On  the  first  ballot  Mr.  Seward  received  173  votes,  Mr. 
Lincoln  102,  Mr.  Cameron  50,  Mr.  Chase  49,  Mr.  Bates  48, 
M.  Dayton  14,  Mr.  McLean  12,  and  there  were  16  votes 
scattered  among  cadidates  not  put  in  nomination.  For  a 
choice,  233  votes  were  required. 

On  the  second  ballot  (Mr.  Cameron's  name  having  been 
withdrawn)  the  vote  for  the  several  candidates  was  as 
follows:  Mr.  Seward  184,  Mr.  Lincoln  181,  Mr.  Chase  42, 
Mr.  Bates  35,  Mr.  Dayton,  10,  Mr.  McLean  8,  scatter- 
ing 4. 

The  third  ballot  was  immediately  taken,  and  when  the 
call  of  the  roll  was  ended,  the  footings  were  as  follows:  For 


Life  of  ASraham  Lincoln.  151 

Mr.  Lincoln  231,  Mr.  Seward  ISO,  Mr.  Chase  24,  Mr.  Bates 
22,  all  others  7.  Immediately  before  the  result  was 
announced,  four  Ohio  delegates  changed  their  votes  to  Mr. 
Lincoln,  giving  him  a  majority. 

The  scene  which  followed — the  wild  manifestations  of  ap- 
proval and  delight,  within  and  without  the  hall,  prolonged 
uninterruptedly  for  twenty  minutes,  and  renewed  again  and 
again  for  a  half  hour  longer — no  words  can  describe.  Never 
before  was  there  a  popular  assembly  of  any  sort,  probably, 
so  stirred  with  a  contagious  and  all-pervading  enthusiasm. 
The  nomination  was  made  unanimous,  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Evarts,  of  New  York,  who  had  presented  the  name  of  Mr. 
Seward,  and  speedily,  on  the  wings  of  lightning,  the  news  of 
the  great  event  was  spread  to  all  parts  of  the  land.  Subse- 
quently, with  like  heartiness  and  unanimity,  the  ticket  was 
completed  by  the  nomination,  on  the  second  ballot,  of  Sen- 
ator Hannibal  Hamlin,  of  Maine,  for  Vice-President. 

These  demonstrations  at  Chicago  were  but  a  representa- 
tion of  the  common  sentiments  of  the  masses  of  the  Repub- 
lican party,  and  of  thousands  among  the  people,  not  before 
included  in  its  ranks  in  the  country  at  large.  From  that 
day  to  the  present,  the  wisdom  of  the  nomination  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  for  the  highest  place  in  the  American  Govern- 
ment has  been  more  and  more  confirmed.  As  a  man  of  the 
people,  in  cordial  sympathy  with  the  masses,  he  had  the  un- 
doubting  confidence  of  the  sincere  friends  of  free  labor,  re- 
gardless of  party  distinctions.  As  a  man  of  sterling  integrity 
and  incorruptible  honesty,  he  was  to  become  the  fitting 
agent  for  upholding  the  Federal  Government  in  the  days  of 
its  greatest  trial.  As  a  man  of  eminent  abihty,  and  of 
sound  principles,  after  the  earliest  and  best  standard  in  our 
political  history,  his  election  was  to  give  to  the  country  an 
administration  credible  to  our  republican  polity,  and  to 
result  in  the  complete  removal  of  the  great  disquieting 


152  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

element  which  at  length  convulsed  the  nation  with  a  gigan- 
tic civil  war. 

The  brief  letter  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  acceptance  of  the 
Presidential  nomination,  is  subjoined. 


Springfield,  III.,  May  23,  1860. 
Hon.  Geo.  Ashmun, 

President  of  the  Republwan  National  Convention. 

Sir  : — I  accept  the  nomination  tendered  me  by  the  con- 
vention over  which  you  presided,  and  of  which  I  am  for- 
mally apprised  in  the  letter  of  yourself  and  others,  acting 
as  a  committee  of  the  convention  for  that  purpose. 

The  declaration  of  principles  and  sentiments,  which 
accompanies  your  letter,  meets  my  approval;  and  it  shall 
be  my  care  not  to  violate  nor  to  disregard  it,  in  any  part. 

Imploring  the  assistance  of  Divine  Providence,  and  with 
due  regard  to  the  views  and  feeling  of  all  who  were  repre- 
sented in  the  convention;  to  the  rights  of  all- the  States,  and 
Territories,  and  the  people  of  the  nation;  to  the  inviola- 
bility of  the  Constitution,  and  to  the  perpetual  union,  har- 
mony and  prosperity  of  all,  I  am  most  happy  to  co-operate 
for  the  practical  success  of  the  principles  declared  by  the 
convention. 

Your   obliged   friend   and   fellow   citizen, 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

The  popular  favor  with  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  first  received  was  strengthened  by  the  spirited  canvass 
which  followed.  The  electoral  votes  of  the  States  of  Maine, 
New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island, 
Connecticut,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Michigan,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Cahfornia, 
and  Oregon,  seventeen  states,  were  cast  for  Lincoln  and 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  153 

Hamlin.  The  votes  of  Maryland,  Delaware,  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Frorida,  Alabama,  Louisiana, 
Mississippi,  Arkansas  and  Texas,  eleven  states,  were  cast 
for  Breckinridge  and  Lane.  The  votes  of  Virginia,  Ken- 
tucky and  Tennessee  were  cast  for  Bell  and  Everett.  The 
electoral  vote  of  Missouri  was  given  for  Douglas  and  John- 
son. The  vote  of  New  Jersey  was  divided,  four  being  given 
for  Lincoln  and  three  for  Douglas. 

The  aggregate  electoral  vote  for  each  Presidential  candi- 
date, as  foimd  by  the  official  canvass  in  joint  session  of  the 
two  Houses  of  Congress,  on  the  13th  day  of  February,  1861, 
was  as  follows:  For  Abraham  Lincoln,  180;  for  John  C. 
Breckinridge,  72,  for  John  Bell,  39;  and  for  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  12.  The  Vice-President,  Mr.  Breckinridge,  then 
officially  declared  Mr.  Lincoln  elected  President  of  the 
United  States  for  four  years,  commencing  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1861. 

The  aggregate  popular  vote  for  each  of  the  Presidential 
candidates,  at  this  election,  was  as  follows  For  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, 1,866,452;  for  Mr.  Douglas,  1,375,157;  for  Mr. 
Breckinridge,  847,953;  and  for  Mr.  Bell,  590,631.  The 
last  speech  of  Mr.  Douglas,  in  the  ensuing  'spring,  urged 
upon  his  friends  an  earnest  support  of  the  Administration 
in  putting  down  the  rebellion,  as  in  his  speech  at  Norfolk, 
Va.,  during  the  preceding  canvass,  he  had  declared  in  favor 
of  coercion,  as  the  remedy  for  secession.  Mr.  Bell  went 
over  to  the  secession  cause,  co-operating  with  Mr.  Breckin- 
ridge, afterward  a  general  in  the  Confederate  army.  The 
total  vote  for  the  two  loyal  candidates  was  3,241,609. 

On  the  morning  of  February  11th,  Mr.  Lincoln,  with  his 
family,  left  Springfield  for  Washington.  A  large  con- 
course of  citizens  had  assembled  at  the  depot,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  his  departure,  whom,  with  deep  emotion,  he  ad- 
dressed as  follows : 


154  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

My  Friends:  No  one,  not  in  my  position,  can  appre- 
ciate the  sadness  I  feel  at  this  parting.  To  this  people  I  owe 
all  that  I  am.  Here  I  have  lived  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century;  here  my  cliildi'en  were  born,  and  here  one  of  them 
lies  buried.  I  laiow  not  how  soon  I  shall  see  you  again. 
A  duty  devolves  upon  me  which  is,  perhaps,  greater  than 
that  which  has  devolved  upon  any  other  man  since  the  days 
of  Wasliington.  He  never  could  have  succeeded  except  for 
the  aid  of  Divine  Proiidnece  upon  which  he  at  all  times 
relied.  I  feel  that  I  can  not  succeed  without  the  same 
Divine  aid  which  sustained  him ;  and  in  the  same  Almighty 
Being  I  place  my  reliance  for  support,  and  hope  you,  my 
friends,  will  all  pray  that  I  may  receive  that  Divine  assist- 
ance, without  which  I  cannot  succeed,  but  with  wMch  suc- 
cess is  certain.  Again,  I  bid  you  all  an  effectionate  fare- 
well. 

The  first  speech  of  Mr.  Lincoln  on  his  journey  was  that 
delivered  at  Indianapolis,  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day, 
addressed  to  a  multitude  of  people  assembled  to  welcome 
liim.  As  containing  the  earliest  direct  intimation  of  Ms 
views  on  the  all-engrossing  topic  of  the  time,  it  is  appro- 
priately given  here: 

Fellow  Citizens  of  the  State  of  Indiana:  I  am  here 
to  thank  you  for  this  magnificent  welcome,  and  still  more  for 
the  generous  support  given  by  your  State  to  that  political 
cause,  which,  I  think,  is  the  true  and  just  cause  of  the  whole 
country,  and  the  whole  world.  Solomon  says,  "there  is  a 
time  to  keep  slience ; "  and  when  men  wrangle  by  the  mouth 
with  no  certainty  that  they  mean  the  same  thing  while 
using  the  same  words,  it  perhaps  were  as  well  if  they  would 
keep  silence. 

The  words  "coercion"  and  "invasion"  are  much  used  in 
these  days,  and  often  with  some  temper  and  hot  blood. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  155 

Let  us  make  sure,  if  we  can,  that  we  do  not  misunderstand 
the  meaning  of  those  who  use  them.  Let  us  get  the  exact 
definitions  of  these  words — not  from  dictionaries,  but 
from  the  men  themselves,  who  certainly  deprecate  the 
things  they  would  represent  by  the  use  of  the  words. 

What,  then,  is  coercion?  What  is  invasion?  Would 
the  marching  of  an  army  into  South  Carolina,  without  the 
consent  of  her  people,  and  with  hostile  intent  toward  them, 
be  invasion?  I  certainly  think  it  would,  and  it  would  be 
coercion,  also,  if  the  South  Carolinians  were  forced  to 
submit.  But  if  the  United  States  should  merely  hold  and 
retake  its  own  forts  and  other  property,  and  collect  the 
duties  on  foreign  importations,  or  even  withhold  the 
mails  from  places  where  they  were  habitually  violated, 
would  any  or  all  of  these  things  be  invasion  or  coercion? 
Do  our  professed  lovers  of  the  Union,  who  spitefully  resolve 
that  they  will  resist  coercion  and  invasion,  understand  that 
such  things  as  these,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  would 
be  coercion  or  invasion  of  a  State?  If  so,  their  idea  of  means 
to  preserve  the  object  of  their  great  affection  would  seem  to 
be  exceedingly  tliin  and  airy.  If  sick,  the  little  pills  of  the 
homeopathist  would  be  much  too  large  for  it  to  swallow.  In 
their  view,  the  Union,  as  a  family  relation,  would  seem  to 
be  no  regular  marriage,  but  rather  a  sort  of  "free-love" 
arrangement,  to  be  maintained  on  passional  attraction. 

By  the  way,  in  what  consists  the  special  sacredness  of  a 
State?  I  speak  not  of  the  position  assigned  to  a  State  in 
the  Union  by  the  Constitution,  for  that  is  a  bond  we  all 
recognize.  That  position,  however,  a  State  can  not  carry 
out  of  the  Union  with  it.  I  speak  of  that  assumed  primary 
right  of  a  State  to  rule  all  which  is  less  than  itself,  and  to 
ruin  all  wliich  is  larger  than  itself.  If  a  State  and  a  County, 
in  a  given  case,  should  be  equal  in  number  of  inhabitants, 
in  what,  as  a  matter  of  principle,  is  the  State  better  than 


156  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

the  County?  Would  an  exchange  of  name  be  an  exchange 
of  rights?  LIpon  what  principle,  upon  what  rightful 
principle,  may  a  State,  being  no  more  than  one-fiftieth  part 
of  the  nation  in  soil  and  population,  break  up  the  nation, 
and  then  coerce  a  proportionably  large  subdivision  of  itself 
in  the  most  arbitrary  way?  What  mysterious  right  to 
play  tyrant  is  conferred  on  a  district  of  country  ^vithits 
people,  by  merely  calling  it  a  State?  Fellow-citizens,  I  am 
not  asserting  an>i;hing.  I  am  merely  asking  questions  for 
you  to  consider.     And  now  allow  me  to  bid  you  farewell. 

Enthusiastic  greetings  awaited  the  President  elect  all 
along  his  route,  the  people  hailing  the  approach  of  the  day 
which  was  to  witness,  under  his  auspices,  the  beginning  of  a 
new  regime  for  the  nation. 

At  Philadelphia,  on  the  22nd  of  February,  he  visited 
Independence  Hall,  where  throngs  of  people  gathered  to  see 
him,  and  where  he  raised  a  national  flag  to  its  place  on  the 
staff  above,  as  requested,  amid  the  cheers  of  the  thousands 
present.  In  a  brief  speech,  he  referred  with  much  emotion 
to  the  men  who  had  assembled  in  this  Hall  in  1776,  and  to 
the  principles  there  proclaimed  on  the  4th  of  July — prin- 
ciples which  he  declared  it  to  be  his  purpose  never  to  yield, 
if  he  must  seal  liis  devotion  to  them  by  a  violent  death. 
On  the  next  day  he  reached  Harrisburg. 

Positive  information  had  now  been  received  at  Washing- 
ton of  a  plot  to  assinate  Mr.  Lincoln  at  Baltimore.  When 
this  was  communicated  to  him,  he  was  averse  to  any  change 
of  the  time  fixed  upon  for  his  transit  through  that  city. 
On  the  earnest  representations  of  Mr.  Seward,  however, 
who  sent  a  special  messenger  to  the  President  elect  at 
Harrisburg,  to  urge  this  course,  he  left  the  latter  place  on 
the  night  train,  a  few  hours  in  advance  of  that  which  he 
was  expected  to  take,  and  passing  through  Baltimore  with 
out  recognition,arrived  the  followingmorningin  Washington. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Commencement  of  President  Lincoln's  Administration. 

On  the  fourth  day  of  March,  1861,  Mr.  Lincoln  took  the 
oath  of  office,  as  President  of  the  United  States.  The  ad- 
ministation  of  James  Buchanan,  and  eight  years  of  in- 
tensely southern  sway  in  all  branches  of  the  National  Gov- 
ernment, were  now  at  an  end.  During  the  four  months  that 
had  intervened  since  the  people  decreed  this  change  not  a 
moment  had  been  lost  by  the  leaders  in  the  now  clearly 
developed  scheme  of  revolt,  in  making  energetic  prepara- 
tion for  its  consummation.  So  well  had  they  succeeded,  by 
the  aid  of  bold  treason  or  of  inert  complicity  at  the 
national  capital,  that  they  imagined  they  had  assured  the 
full  attainment  of  their  object,  almost  without  the  hazard 
of  a  single  campaign.  While  professing,  however,  to  be- 
lieve in  a  fancied  right  of  peaceable  secession,  and  pro- 
claiming their  desire  to  be  left  unmolested  in  the  execution 
of  their  revolutionary  purposes,  the  chief  conspirators  well 
knew  that  this  immunity  could  only  be  gained  by  such  use  of 
the  remaining  days  of  the  outgoing  administration  that  the 
crisis  should  already  be  over,  or  resistance  to  their  treason 
be  rendered  ineffectual,  when  the  new  administration 
should  begin.  They  industriously  collected  the  materials 
of  war,  yet  spared  no  efforts. to  bring  about  a  state  of 
things  which  should  insure  either  peaceful  submission  to 
their  will  or  a  sure  vantage  ground  for  an  appeal  to  arms. 

So  much  had  been  brought  to  final  accomplishment  by  the 
conspirators  during  the  closing  months  of  Mr.  Buchanan's 
administration.    Such  was  the  spirit  manifested  by  them  to 

157 


158  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

repel  conciliation  in  every  form,  to  maintain  peace  solely  on 
condition  of  the  complete  submission  of  the  loyal  States  to 
every  essential  demand  of  secessionism.  And  such,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  the  amicable  disposition  of  loyal  men  every- 
where, and  their  earnest  wish  to  avoid  a  collision  of  arms,  if 
any  other  solution  were  possible  short  of  absolute  degrada- 
tion and  ruin  to  the  nation.  Jefferson  Da\'is,  in  assuming 
power  as  head  of  the  "Confederacy,"  at  Montgomery,  Feb- 
ruary, 18,  stated  the  sole  conditions  of  peace  in  the  follow- 
ing unmistakeable  language; 

If  a  just  perception  of  mutual  interest  shall  permit  us 
peaceably  to  pursue  our  separate  political  career,  my  most 
earnest  desire  will  have  been  fulfilled.  But  if  this  be  de- 
nied us,  and  the  integrity  of  our  territory  and  jurisdiction 
be  assailed,  it  will  but  remain  for  us,  with  firm  resolve,  to 
appeal  to  arms,  and  invoke  the  blessing  of  Providence  on  a 
just  cause. 

This  was  immediately  followed  by  the  recommendation 
that  a  Confederate  army  be  organized  and  put  in  training 
for  the  emergency;  "a  well  instructed,  disciplined  army, 
more  numerous  than  would  usually  be  required,  on  a  peace 
establishment,"  being  distinctly  indicated  as  essentials  to 
Ins  i^lans. 

While  it  is  thus  clear  that  he  and  all  his  co-adjutors  were 
determined  on  war  from  the  outset,  and  at  all  hazards,  unless 
dis-union  were  recognized  as  an  accomplished  fact,  and 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Government  over  the  rebellious  dis- 
tricts were  abandoned  without  a  struggle,  it  is  equally  mani- 
fest that  not  a  single  grievance  complained  of  could  have 
failed  of  redress,  under  our  popular  institutions,  by  peace- 
able methods.  While  deluding  their  adherents  with  smooth 
words,  they  deliberately  chose  an  appeal  to  arms,  and 
scorned  a  peaceable  solution,  which  was  equally  at  their  dis- 
posal, under  the  Constitution  and  the  laws. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  159 

Some  acts  of  vigor  and  patriotic  fidelity,  during  the  clos- 
ing days  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  administration,  deserve  to  be 
remembered,  to  the  honor  of  those  cabinet  ministers,  to 
whom  alone  the  country  was  indebted  for  these  redeeming 
deeds.  Dix,  Stanton  and  Holt  had  preserved  a  remainder 
of  jjopular  respect  for  a  Government  that  all  the  loyalty 
of  the  nation  rejoiced  to  see  transferred  to  the  hands  of  a 
new  executive,  untried  though  he  was,  and  terrible  as  was 
the  task  devolving  upon  liim. 

Despite  all  the  threats,  constantly  rej^eated  for  months 
past,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  should  never  be  permitted  to  occupy 
the  Presidential  chair,  and  desperate  as  had  been  the  plot- 
tings  for  his  assassination,  he  appeared  at  the  east  front  of 
the  capitol  and  received,  at  the  appointed  time,  the  oath 
from  Chief  Justice  Taney.  During  the  period  that  had 
elapsed  since  the  election,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  carefully  studied 
the  situation,  closely  watcliing  the  course  of  events.  His 
inaugural  address  shows  the  results  of  liis  observation, 
and  of  the  application  of  his  sterling  good  sense  and  com- 
prehensive practical  judgment  to  the  mastery  of  the  problem 
to  be  solved  by  him,  as  head  of  the  nation.  He  clearly  under- 
stood how  everything  depended,  so  far  as  his  administration 
was  concerned,  on  a  true  insight  into  the  very  heart  of  the 
question,  and  on  the  initiation,  at  the  very  outset,  of  an  ap- 
propriate policy  in  dealing  with  the  rebellion.  The  great 
insurrection  is  the  uppermost  thought — almost  the  ex- 
clusive theme — of  his  inaugural  address.  That  this  was  the 
wisest  utterance  of  the  time,  manifesting  a  rare  foresight,  as 
well  as  a  remarkable  skill  in  briefly  presenting  the  true  ques- 
tions at  issue,  in  their  proper  bearings,  with  a  calm,  candid 
appeal  to  the  nation,  in  all  its  parts,  in  behalf  of  law,  order 
and  peace,  will  more  and  more  clearly  appear  in  the  light  of 
after  events.  Whoever  would  acquaint  himself  with  the 
inmost  traits  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  character,  as  a  public  man. 


160  Life  of  Abraham  Lixcoln. 

and  at  the  same  time  discover,  in  honest  and  plain  words,  a 
statement  in  advance  of  the  fundamental  principles  by 
wliich  liis  administration  has  been  guided,  let  him  carefully 
study  this  paper,  every  sentence  of  which  is  full  of  meaning : 

Me.  Lincoln's  Inaugural  Address. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  United  States:  In  com- 
pliance with  a  custom  as  old  as  the  Government  itself,  I 
appear  before  you  to  address  you  briefly,  and  to  take,  in 
your  presence,  the  oath  prescribed  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  to  be  taken  by  the  President  before  he 
enters  on  the  execution  of  his  office. 

I  do  not  consider  it  necessary,  at  present,  for  me  to  chs- 
cuss  those  matters  of  administration  about  which  there  is 
no  special  anxiety  or  excitement.  Apprehension  seems  to 
exist  among  the  people  of  the  Southern  States,  that,  by  the 
accession  of  a  Republican  Administration  their  property 
and  their  peace  and  personal  security  are  to  be  endangered. 
There  has  never  been  any  reasonable  cause  for  such  appre- 
hension. Indeed,  the  most  ample  evidence  to  the  contrary 
has  all  the  while  existed,  and  been  open  to  their  inspection. 
It  is  found  in  nearly  all  the  published  speeches  of  him  who 
now  addresses  you.  I  do  but  quote  from  one  of  those 
speeches  when  I  declare  that  "  I  have  no  purpose,  directly 
or  indirectly,  to  interfere  with  the  institution  of  slavery  in 
the  States  where  it  exists  "  I  believe  I  ha^'e  no  lawful 
right  to  do  so ,  and  I  have  no  inclination  to  do  so.  Those 
who  nominated  and  elected  me,  did  so  with  the  full  knowl- 
edge that  I  had  made  this,  and  made  many  similar  declara- 
tions, and  had  never  recanted  them.  And,  more  than  tliis, 
they  placed  in  the  platform,  for  my  acceptance,  and  as  a 
law  to  themselves,  and  to  me,  the  clear  and  emphatic 
resolution  which  I  now  read: 


f4 

CO 
O 

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Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  161 

"  Resolved,  That  the  maintenance  inviolate  of  the  rights  of 
the  States,  and  especially  the  right  of  each  State  to  order 
and  control  its  own  domestic  institutions  according  to  its 
own  judgment  exclusively,  is  essential  to  the  balance  of 
power  on  which  the  perfection  and  endurance  of  our  political 
fabric  depend;  and  we  denoimce  the  lawless  invasion,  by 
armed  force,  of  the  soil  of  any  State  or  Territory,  no  matter 
under  what  pretext,  as  amongst  the  gravest  of  crimes. " 

I  now  reiterate  these  sentiments ;  and  in  doing  so  I  only 
press  upon  the  pubhc  attention  the  most  conclusive  evi- 
dence of  which  the  case  is  susceptible,  that  the  property, 
peace,  and  security  of  no  section  are  to  be  in  any  wise  en- 
dangered by  the  now  incoming  administration. 

I  add,  too,  that  all  the  protection  which,  consistently 
with  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  can  be  given,  will  be 
cheerfully  given  to  all  the  States  when  lawfully  demanded, 
for  whatever  cause,  as  cheerfully  to  one  section  as  to  an 
other. 

There  in  much  controversy  about  the  delivering  up  of 
fugitives  from  service  or  labor.  The  clause  I  now  read  is 
as  plainly  written  in  the  Constitution  as  any  other  of  its 
provisions. 

"  No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State  imder  the 
laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of 
any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such 
service  or  labor,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the 
party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be  due. " 

It  is  scarcely  questioned  that  this  provision  was  intended 
by  those  who  made  it  for  the  reclaiming  of  what  we  call  fugi- 
tive slaves ;  and  the  intention  of  the  lawgiver  is  the  law. 

All  members  of  the  Congress  swear  their  support  to  the 
whole  Constitution — to  this  provision  as  well  as  any  other. 
To  the  proposition,  then,  that  slaves  whose  cases  come 
within  the  terms  of  tliis  clause  "shall  be  delivered  up." 


162  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

their  oaths  are  unanimous.  Now,  if  they  would  make  the 
effort  in  good  temper,  could  they  not,  with  nearly  equal 
unanimity,  frame  and  pass  a  law  by  means  of  which  to  keep 
good  that  unanimous  oath? 

There  is  some  difference  of  opinion  whether  this  clause 
should  be  enforced  by  National  or  by  State  authority;  but 
surely  that  difference  is  not  a  very  material  one.  If  the 
slave  is  to  be  surrendered,  it  can  be  of  but  little  consequence 
to  liim  or  to  others  by  which  authority  it  is  done;  and 
should  any  one,  in  any  case,  be  content  that  tliis  oath  shall 
go  unkept  on  a  merely  unsubstantial  controversy  as  to 
how  it  shall  be  kept? 

Again,  in  any  law  upon  this  subject,  ought  not  all  the 
safeguards  of  liberty  known  in  the  civilizetl  and  humane 
jurisprudence  to  be  introduced,  so  that  a  free  man  be  not, 
in  any  case,  surrendered  as  a  slave?  And  might  it  not  be 
well  at  the  same  time  to  provide  by  law  for  the  enforce- 
ment of  that  clause  in  the  Constitution  which  guarantees 
that  "the  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the 
privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States?" 

I  take  the  official  oath  to-day  with  no  mental  reservations, 
and  with  no  purpose  to  construe  the  Constitution  or  laws  by 
any  hypercritical  rules;  and  while  I  do  not  choose  now  to 
specify  particular  acts  of  Congress  as  proper  to  be  enforced, 
I  do  suggest  that  it  will  be  much  safer  for  all,  both  in  official 
and  private  stations,  to  conform  to  and  abide  by  all  those 
acts  which  stand  unrepealed,  than  to  violate  any  of  them, 
trusting  to  find  impunity  in  having  them  held  to  be  uncon- 
stitutional. 

It  is  seventy-two  j^ears  since  the  first  inauguration  of  a 
President  under  our  National  Constitution.  During  that 
period,  fifteen  different  and  very  distinguished  citizens  have 
in  succession  administered  the  executive  branch  of  the 
Government.     They  have  conducted  it  through  many  perils, 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  163 

and  generally  with  great  success.  Yet,  with  all  this  scope 
for  precedent,  I  now  enter  upon  the  same  task,  for  the  brief 
constitutional  term  of  four  years,  under  great  and  peculiar 
difficulties. 

A  disruption  of  the  Federal  Union,  heretofore  only  men- ' 
aced,  is  now  formidably  attempted.  I  hold  that  in  the 
contemplation  of  universal  law  and  of  the  Constitution, 
the  Union  of  these  States  is  perpetual.  Perpetuity  is  im- 
plied, if  not  expressed,  in  the  fundamental  law  of  all  na- 
tional governments.  It  is  safe  to  assert  that  no  government 
proper  ever  had  a  provision  in  its  organic  law  for  its  own 
termination.  Continue  to  execute  all  the  express  provisions 
of  our  National  Constitution,  and  the  Union  will  endure  for 
ever,  it  being  impossible  to  destroy  it,  except  by  some 
action  not  provided  for  in  the  instrument  itself. 

Again,  if  the  United  States  be  not  a  government  proper, 
but  an  association  of  States  in  the  nature  of  a  contract, 
merely,  can  it,  as  a  contract,  be  peaceably  unmade  by  less 
than  all  the  parties  who  made  it?  One  party  to  a  contract 
may  violate  it — break  it,  so  to  speak ;  but  does  it  not  re- 
quire all  to  lawfully  rescind  it?  Descending  from  these 
general  principles,  we  find  the  proposition  that  in  legal  con- 
templation the  Union  is  perpetual,  confirmed  by  the  history 
of  the  Union  itself. 

The  Union  is  much  older  than  the  Constitution.  It  was 
formed,  in  fact,  by  the  Articles  of  Association,  in  1774.  It 
was  matured  and  continued  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence in  1776.  It  was  further  matured,  and  the  faith 
of  all  the  then  thirteen  States  expressly  plighted  and  en- 
gaged that  it  should  be  perpetual,  by  the  Articles  of  the  Con- 
federation, in  1778;  and,  finally,  in  1787,  one  of  the  de- 
clared objects  for  ordaining  and  establishing  the  Constitution 
was  to  form  a  more  perfect  Union.  But  if  the  destruction 
of  the  Union  by  one  or  by  a  part  only  of  the  States  be  law- 


164  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

fully  possible,  the  Union  is  less  than  before,  the  Constitu- 
tion having  lost  the  vital  element  of  perpetuity. 

It  follows  from  these  views  that  no  State,  upon  its  own 
mere  motion,  can  lawfully  get  out  of  the  Union;  that  re- 
solves and  ordinances  to  that  effect,  are  legally  void;  and 
that  acts  of  violence  within  any  State  or  States  against  the 
authority  of  the  United  States,  are  insurrectionary  or  revo- 
lutionary, according  to  circumstances. 

I  therefore  consider,  that,  in  view  of  the  Constitution  and 
the  laws,  the  Union  is  unbroken,  and,  to  the  extent  of  my 
ability,  I  shall  take  care,  as  the  Constitution  itself  expressly 
enjoins  upon  me,  that  the  laws  of  the  Union  shall  be  faith- 
fully executed  in  all  the  States.  Doing  this,  which  I  deem 
to  be  only  a  simple  duty  on  my  part,  I  shall  perfectly  per- 
form it,  so  far  as  is  practicable,  unless  my  rightful  masters, 
the  American  people,  shall  withhold  the  requisition,  or  in 
some  authoritatve  manner  direct  the  contrary. 

I  trust  this  will  not  be  regarded  as  a  menace,  but  only  as 
the  declared  purpose  of  the  Union  that  it  will  constitu- 
tionally defend  and  maintain  itself. 

In  doing  this  there  need  be  no  bloodshed  or  violence,  and 
there  shall  be  none  unless  it  is  forced  upon  the  National 
authority. 

The  power  confided  to  me  loill  be  used  to  hold,  occupy,  and 
possess  the  property  mid  places  belonging  to  the  Government, 
and  collect  the  duties  and  imposts;  but  beyond  what  may 
be  necessary  for  those  objects  there  will  be  no  invasion, 
no  using  of  force  against  or  among  the  people  any^\'here. 

Where  hostility  to  the  United  States  shall  be  so  great  and 
so  universal  as  to  prevent  competent  resident  citizens  from 
holding  the  Federal  offices,  there  will  be  no  attempt  to 
force  obnoxious  strangers  among  the  people  that  object. 
While  the  strict  legal  right  may  exist  of  the  Government  to 
enforce  the  exercise  of  these  offices,  the  attempt  to  do  so 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  165 

would  be  so  irritating,  and  so  nearly  impracticable  withal, 
that  I  deem  it  better  to  forego,  for  the  time,  the  use  of  such 
offices. 

The  mails,  unless  repelled,  will  continue  to  be  furnished 
in  all  parts  of  the  Union. 

So  far  as  possible,  the  people  everywhere  shall  have  that 
sense  of  perfect  security  which  is  most  favorable  to  calm 
thought  and  reflection. 

The  course  here  indicated  will  be  followed,  unless  current 
events  and  experiences  shall  show  a  modification  or  change 
to  be  proper;  and  in  every  case  and  exigency  my  best  dis- 
cretion will  be  exercised  according  to  the  circumstances 
actually  existing,  and  with  a  view  and  hope  of  a  peaceful 
solution  of  the  National  troubles  and  the  restoration  of 
fraternal  sympathies  and  affections. 

That  there  are  persons,  in  one  section  or  another,  who 
seek  to  destroy  the  Union  at  all  events,  and  are  glad  of  a 
pretext  to  do  it,  I  will  neither  affirm  nor  deny.  But  if  there 
be  such,  I  need  address  no  word  to  them. 

To  those,  however,  who  really  love  the  Union,  may  I  not 
speak,  before  entering  upon  so  grave  a  matter  as  the  de- 
structon  of  our  National  fabric,  with  all  its  benefits,  its 
memories,  and  its  hopes?  Would  it  not  be  well  to  ascertain 
why  we  do  it?  Will  you  hazard  so  desperate  a  step,  while 
any  portion  of  the  ills  you  fly  from  have  no  real  existence? 
Will  you,  while  the  certain  ills  you  fly  to  are  greater  than  all 
the  real  ones  you  fly  from?  Will  you  risk  the  commission  of 
so  fearful  a  mistake?  All  profess  to  be  content  in  the 
Union  if  all  constitutional  rights  can  be  maintained.  Is  it 
true,  then,  that  any  right,  plainly  written  in  the  Constitu- 
tion, has  been  denied?  I  think  not.  Happily  the  human 
mind  is  so  constituted,  that  no  party  can  reach  to  the 
audacity  of  doing  this. 

Tliink,  if  you  can,  of  a  single  instance  in  wlaich  a  plainly 


166  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

written  provision  of  the  Constitution  has  ever  been  denied. 
If,  by  the  mere  force  of  numbers  a  majority  should  de- 
prive a  minority  of  any  clearly  written  constitutional  right, 
it  might,  in  a  moral  point  of  view,  justify  revolution;  it 
certainly  would,  if  such  right  were  a  vital  one.  But  such 
is  not  our  case. 

All  the  vital  rights  of  minorities  and  of  individuals  are  so 
plainly  assured  to  them  by  affirmations  and  negations,  guar- 
antees and  prohibitions  in  the  Constitution,  that  contro- 
versies never  arise  concerning  them.  But  no  organic  law 
can  ever  be  framed  with  a  provision  specifically  applicable 
to  every  question  which  may  occur  in  practical  adminis- 
tration. No  foresight  can  anticipate,  nor  any  document  of 
reasonable  length  contain,  express  provisions  for  all  possible 
questions.  Shall  fugitives  from  labor  be  surrendered  by 
National  or  by  State  authorities?  The  Constitution  does 
not  expressly  say.  Must  Congress  protect  slavery  in  the 
Territories?  The  Constitution  does  not  expressly  say. 
From  questions  of  this  class,  spring  all  our  constitutional 
controversies,  and  we  divide  upon  them  into  majorities  and 
minorities. 

If  the  minority  will  not  acquiesce,  the  majority  must, 
the  Government  must  cease.  There  is  no  alternative  for 
continuing  the  Government  but  acquiescence  on  the  one 
side  or  the  other.  If  a  minority  in  such  a  case,  will  secede 
rather  than  acquiesce,  they  make  a  precedent  which,  in 
turn,  will  ruin  and  divide  them,  for  a  mino  rity  of  their  own 
will  secede  from  them  whenever  a  majority  refuses  to  be 
controlled  by  such  a  minority.  For  instance,  why  not  any 
portion  of  a  new  confederacy,  a  year  or  two  hence,  arbi- 
trarily secede  agam,  precisely  as  portions  of  the  present 
Union  now  claim  to  secede  from  it?  All  who  cherish  dis- 
union sentiments  are  now  being  educated  to  the  exact  tem- 
per of  doing  this.     Is  there  such  perfect  identity  of  interests 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


167 


among  the  States  to  compose  a  new  Union  as  to  produce 
harmony  only,  and  prevent  renewed  secession?  Plainly, 
the  central  idea  of  secession  is  the  essence  of  anarchy. 

A  majority  held  in  restraint  by  constitutional  check  and 
limitation,  and  always  changing  easily  with  deliberate 
changes  of  popular  opinions  and  sentiments,  is  the  only 
true  sovereign  of  a  free  people.  Whoever  rejects  it,  does, 
of  necessity,  fiy  to  anarchy  or  despotism.  Unanimity  is  im- 
possible; the  rule  of  a  majority,  as  a  permanent  arrange- 
ment, is  wholly  inadmissible.  So  that,  rejecting  the  ma- 
jority principle,  anarchy  or  despotism,  in  some  form,  is  all 
that  is  left. 

I  do  not  forget  the  position  assumed  by  some  that  consti- 
tutional questions  are  to  be  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court, 
nor  do  I  deny  that  such  decisions  must  be  binding  in  any 
case  upon  the  parties  to  a  suit,  as  to  the  object  of  that  suit 
while  they  are  also  entitled  to  a  very  high  respect  and  con- 
sideration in  all  parallel  cases  by  all  other  departments  of 
the  Government;  and  while  it  is  obviously  possible  that 
such  decision  may  be  erroneous  in  any  given  case,  still  the 
evil  effect  following  it,  being  limited  to  that  particular  case 
with  the  chance  that  it  may  be  overruled  and  never  become 
a  precedent  for  other  cases,  can  better  be  borne  than  could 
the  evils  of  a  different  practice. 

At  the  same  time  the  candid  citizen  must  confess  that  if 
the  policy  of  the  Government  upon  the  vital  questions 
affecting  the  whole  people  is  to  be  irrevocably  fixed  by  the 
decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  instant  they  are  made, 
as  in  ordinary  litigation  between  parties  in  personal  actions, 
the  people  will  have  ceased  to  be  their  own  masters,  unless 
having  to  that  extent  practically  resigned  their  Govern- 
ment into  the  hands  of  that  eminent  tribunal. 

Nor  is  there  in  this  view  any  assault  upon  the  Court  or  the 
Judges.     It  is  a  duty  from  which  they  may  not  shrink,  to 


168  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

decide  cases  properly  brought  before  them;  and  it  is  no 
fault  of  theirs  if  others  seek  to  turn  their  decisions  to  polit- 
ical purposes.  One  section  of  our  country  believes  slavery 
is  right  and  ought  to  be  extended,  while  the  other  believes  it 
is  wrong  and  ought  not  to  be  extended ;  and  this  is  the  only 
substantial  dispute;  and  the  fugitive  slave  clause  of  the 
Constitution,  and  the  law  for  the  suppression  of  the  foreign 
slave  trade,  are  each  as  well  enforced,  perhaps,  as  any  law 
can  ever  be  in  a  community  where  the  moral  sense  of  the 
people  imperfectly  supports  the  law  itself.  The  great  body 
of  the  people  abide  by  the  dry  legal  obligation  in  both  cases, 
and  a  few  break  over  in  each.  This,  I  think,  cannot  be 
perfectly  cured,  and  it  would  be  worse  in  both  cases  after  the 
separation  of  the  sections  than  before.  The  foreign  slave- 
trade,  now  imperfectly  suppressed,  would  be  ultimately  re- 
vived, without  restriction,  in  one  section;  while  fugitive 
slaves,  now  only  partially  surrendered,  would  not  be  sur- 
rendered at  all  by  the  other. 

Physically  speaking,  we  cannot  separate;  we  cannot  re- 
move our  respective  sections  from  each  other,  nor  build  an 
impassable  wall  between  them.  A  husband  and  wife  may 
be  cUvorced,  and  go  out  of  the  presence  and  beyond  the 
reach  of  each  other,  but  the  different  parts  of  our  cotmtry 
cannot  do  this.  They  can  not  but  remain  face  to  face;  and 
intercourse,  either  amicable  or  hostile,  must  continue  be- 
tween them.  Is  it  possible,  then,  to  make  that  intercourse 
more  advantageous  or  more  satisfactory  after  separation, 
than  before?  Can  aliens  make  treaties  easier  than  friends 
can  make  laws?  Can  treaties  be  more  faithfully  enforced 
between  aliens  than  laws  can  among  friends?  Suppose  you 
go  to  war,  you  cannot  fight  always ;  and  when,  after  much 
loss  on  both  sides,  and  no  gain  on  either,  you  cease  fighting 
the  identical  questions  as  to  terms  of  intercourse  are  again 
upon  you. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  169 

This  country,  with  its  institutions,  belongs  to  the  people 
who  inhabit  it.  Whenever  they  shall  grow  weary  of  the 
existing  Government,  they  can  exercise  their  constitutional 
right  of  amending,  or  their  revolutionary  right  to  dis- 
member or  overthrow  it.  I  can  not  be  ignorant  of  the  fact 
that  many  worthy  and  patriotic  citizens  are  desirous  of  hav- 
ing the  National  Constitution  amended.  While  I  make  no 
recommendation  of  amendment,  I  fully  recognize  the  full 
authority  of  the  people  over  the  whole  subject,  to  be  exer- 
cised in  either  of  the  modes  prescribed  in  the  instrument 
itself,  and  I  should,  under  existing  circumstances,  favor, 
rather  than  oppose,  a  fair  opportunity  being  afforded  the 
people  to  act  upon  it. 

I  will  venture  to  add,  that  to  me  the  convention  mode 
seems  preferable,  in  that  it  allows  amendments  to  originate 
with  the  people  themselves,  instead  of  only  permitting  them 
to  take  or  reject  propositions  originated  by  others  not 
especially  chosen  for  the  purpose,  and  which  might  not  be 
precisely  such  as  they  would  wish  either  to  accept  or  refuse. 
I  understand  that  a  proposed  amendment  to  the  Constitu- 
tion (which  amendment,  however,  I  have  not  seen)  has 
passed  Congress,  to  the  effect  that  the  Federal  Government 
shall  never  interfere  with  the  domestic  institutions  of 
States,  including  that  of  persons  held  to  service.  To  avoid 
misconstruction  of  what  I  have  said,  I  depart  from  my  pur- 
pose not  to  speak  of  particular  amendments,  so  far  as  to  say 
that,  holding  such  a  provision  to  now  be  implied  constitu- 
tional law,  I  have  no  objection  to  its  being  made  express 
and  irrevocable. 

The  Chief  Magistrate  derives  all  his  authority  from  the 
people,  and  they  have  conferred  none  upon  him  to  fix  the 
terms  for  the  separation  of  the  States.  The  people,  them- 
selves, also,  can  do  this  if  they  choose,  but  the  executive, 
as  such,  has  nothing  to  do  with  it.     His  duty  is  to  ad- 


170  Life   of  Abraham   Lincoln. 

minister  the  present  government  as  it  came  to  his  hands 
and  to  transmit  it  unimpaired  by  him  to  liis  successor. 
Why  should  there  not  be  a  patient  confidence  in  the  ulti- 
mate justice  of  the  people?  Is  there  any  better  or  equal 
hope  in  the  world?  In  our  present  differences  is  either 
party  without  faith  of  being  in  the  right?  If  the  Almighty 
Ruler  of  nations,  with  his  eternal  truth  and  justice,  be  on 
your  side  of  the  North,  or  on  yours  of  the  South,  that  truth 
and  that  justice  will  surely  prevail  by  the  judgment  of  this 
great  tribunal,  the  American  people.  By  the  frame  of  the 
Government  under  which  we  live,  this  same  people  have 
wisely  given  their  public  servants  but  little  power  for  mis- 
chief, and  have  with  equal  wisdom  provided  for  the  return 
of  that  little  to  their  own  hands  at  very  short  intervals. 
Wliile  the  people  retain  their  virtue  and  vigilance,  no  ad- 
ministration, by  any  extreme  wickedness  or  folly,  can  very 
seriously  injure  the  Government  in  the  short  space  of  four 
years. 

My  countrymen,  one  and  all,  think  calmly  and  well  upon 
this  whole  subject.     Nothing  valuable  can  be  lost  by  taking 

time. 

If  there  be  an  object  to  hurry  any  of  you,  in  hot  haste,  to 
a  step  which  you  would  never  take  deliberately,  that  object 
will  be  frustrated  by  taking  time;  but  no  good  object  can 
be  frustrated  by  it. 

Such  of  you  as  are  now  dissatisfied  still  have  the  old 
Constitution  unimpaired,  and  on  the  sensitive  point,  the 
laws  of  your  own  framing  under  it;  while  the  new  Ad- 
ministration will  have  no  inmiediate  power,  if  it  would,  to 
change  either. 

If  it  were  admitted  that  you  who  are  dissatisfied  hold  the 
right  side  in  the  dispute,  there  is  still  no  single  reason  for 
precipitate  action.  Intelligence,  patriotism,  Christianity, 
and  a  firm  reliance  on  Him  who  has  never  yet  forsaken  this 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  171 

favored  land,  are  still  competent  to  adjust,  in  the  best  way, 
all  our  present  difficulties. 

In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen,  and 
not  in  mine,  is  the  momentous  issue  of  civil  war.  The  Gov- 
ernment will  not  assail  you. 

You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being  yourselves  the 
aggressors.  You  have  no  oath  registered  in  Heaven  to 
destroy  the  Government;  while  I  shall  have  the  most 
solemn  one  to  "  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  it." 

I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends. 
We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have 
strained,  it  must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection. 

The  mystic  cords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every 
battlefield  and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and 
hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the 
chorus  of  the  Union,  when  again  touched,  as  surely  they 
will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature. 

Both  to  the  large  assemblage  that  hstened  to  the  distinct 
recital  of  this  address,  in  tones  which  made  every  word 
audible  to  the  throng,  and  to  loyal  men  everywhere,  as  it 
was  brought  to  them  a  few  minutes  or  hours  later,  by  the 
aid  of  telegraph  and  printing  press,  it  was  a  welcome  mes- 
sage. The  people  saw  in  it  an  assurance  that  imbecility, 
double  dealing,  or  treachery,  no  longer  had  sway  in  the 
nation ;  that  the  new  President  was  determined  to  carry 
out  the  behests  of  the  people  in  maintaining  the  National 
integrity;  and  that,  while  thus  faithfully  observing  his 
official  oath,  he  would  use  every  lawful  and  rational 
means  to  avert  the  convulsions  of  domestic  war.  He  dis- 
tinctly suggested  the  holding  of  a  National  Constitutional 
Convention,  which  would  have  power  to  adjust  all  the 
questions  properly  at  issue,  even  including  peaceable  sepa- 
ration in  a  lawful  manner,  by  a  change  of  the  organic  law. 


172  ■  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

He  demonstrated  unanswerably  the  utter  causelessness  of 
war,  and  distinctly  assured  the  conspirators  that  if  hos- 
tiUties  were  commenced,  it  must  be  by  them,  and  not  by  the 
Government.  He  laid  down  a  line  of  policy  which,  had  it 
been  met  in  a  corresponding  spirit  on  the  other  side,  would 
inevitably  have  averted  disastrous  years  of  bloodshed  and 
all  their  consequences.  While  thus  announcing  his  views, 
and  reaffirming  sentiments  formerly  uttered  by  himself,  as 
well  as  those  of  the  political  convention  which  nominated 
him  for  the  Presidency,  he  also  plainly  indicated  that  the 
benefits  secured  by  the  Constitution  to  any  portion  of 
the  people  could  not  be  claimed  by  them  while  trampling 
that  instrimient  under  foot.  He  told  them  plainly  that  the 
course  he  thus  marked  out  was  not  one  to  be  pursued 
toward  rebels  who  should  plunge  the  nation  in  war.  He 
gave  them  seasonable  notice  that  no  immunities  could  be 
claimed  under  the  assurances  given  on  this  or  an}'  other 
occasion,  inconsistent  wdth  the  changed  condition  of  affairs, 
should  they  madly  appeal  to,  arms. 

The  whole  address  breathes  an  earnest  yearning  for  an 
honorable  peace.  It  does  not,  however,  Uke  the  unfortunate 
message  of  liis  predecessor,  of  the  previous  December, 
base  the  desire  for  peace  on  a  confessed  helplessness  of  the 
Government  or  an  indisposition  to  exert  its  power  of  self- 
preservation.  A  new  political  era  had  begim,  and  true 
patriots  breathed  more  freely. 

One  of  the  first  duties  of  the  President  was  to  purge  the 
Government  of  disloyal  or  doubtful  men  in  responsible 
places.  Long  continued  Democratic  precedent  justified  a 
general  change  of  civil  officers,  from  highest  to  lowest,  on 
the  ground  of  poUtical  differences  alone.  But  after  the 
treasonable  developments  of  the  previous  months  and  years, 
a  thorough  sifting  of  all  the  departments  became  indis- 
pensable, from  high  considerations  of  duty,  on  the  basis  of 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  173 

loyalty  and  disloyalty,  rather  than  of  mere  partisanship. 
No  practical  measures  could  be  adopted  before  this  change 
was  at  least  partially  adopted.  The  magnitude  of  such 
a  work,  to  which  the  President  gave  the  most  earnest  and 
unwearing  attention  for  weeks,  need  not  be  indicated.  The 
patience  with  which  the  "claims"  of  different  candidates 
for  place  were  weighed,  and  the  kindness  (tempered  often 
with  a  wholesome  firmness)  which  characterized  his  de- 
portment toward  all,  usually  retained  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  those  whom  he  felt  compelled  to  disappoint. 

It  was  during  the  days  between  his  arrival  in  Washington 
and  his  inauguration,  that  the  construction  of  his  Cabinet, 
perhaps  substantially  settled  in  his  own  mind  before  he 
left  Illinois,  was  definitely  determined.  The  position 
occupied  by  Mr.  Seward  before  the  country,  was  such  as  to 
leave  no  hesitation  as  to  the  propriety  of  offering  him  the 
liighest  place  of  honor  under  the  Executive,  as  Secretary  of 
State.  This  position  was,  at  an  early  day,  placed  at  Mr. 
Seward's  disposal.  The  office  of  Attorney  General  was, 
with  like  promptitude,  tendered  to  Judge  Bates,  of  Mis- 
souri, whose  leading  position  as  a  Southern  statesman,  with 
anti-slavery  tendencies,  of  the  Clay  school,  had  caused  his 
name  to  bo  prominently  and  widely  used  in  connection  with 
the  Presidency  before  the  nomination  for  that  office,  made 
at  Chicago.  Governor  Chase  of  Ohio,  who  had  recently  been 
elected  to  a  second  term  in  the  Senate,  after  four  years  of 
useful  and  popular  service  in  the  executive  chair  of  his  State, 
perhaps  quite  as  early  occurred  to  the  mind  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
as  a  man  specially  fitted  to  manage  the  finances  of  the 
nation  through  the  troubulous  times  that  were  felt  to  be 
approaching.  This  difficult  post  Mr.  Chase  surrendered  his 
seat  in  the  Senate  to  accept.  Mr.  Cameron,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, selected  as  Secretary  of  War ;  Mr.  AVelles,  of  Connect- 
icut, as  Secretary  of  the  Na\T,  antl  Mr.  Montgomery  Blair, 


174  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

of  Maryland,  as  Postmaster  General,  were  all  leading  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Democratic  element  of  the  party  which 
had  triumphed  in  the  late  election.  Mr.  Caleb  B.  Smith,  of 
Indiana,  a  contemporary  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  Congress,  and 
for  years  one  of  the  most  distinguished  Whig  politicians  of 
the  West,  was  tendered  the  place  of  Secretary  of  the  In- 
terior, which  he  accepted. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  First  Message. 

The  first  effect  of  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter  was  to  silence, 
for  the  time,  all  opposition  to  the  President  in  the  Free 
States.  One  sentiment  was  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  all 
loyal  people — that  of  indignation  at  the  authors  of  the  war, 
now  inaugurated  at  Charleston,  mingled  with  the  purpose 
of  vindicating  the  National  Flag,  and  of  restoring  the 
legitimate  authority  of  the  Government  in  all  the  States. 
Wherever  a  contrary  feeling  existed,  the  strong  manifesta- 
tions of  popular  enthusiasm  for  the  Government  caused 
such  treachery  to  be  carefully  disguised.  For  once,  the 
people  of  the  Free  States  were  a  imit  in  action.  The  de- 
mand for  vigorous  preparation  to  protect  the  .National 
Capital,  and  to  suppress  the  insurrection,  was  universal. 
Simultaneously  with  this  development  of  loyalty,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln prepared  his  proclamation  of  April  15th,  calling  on 
the  States  for  their  several  proportions  of  an  army  of  sev- 
enty-five thousand  men.  He  also,  in  the  same  paper, 
called  an  extra  session  of  Congress,  to  commence  on  the 
4th  day  of  July  following. 

The  19th  of  April  is  further  memorable  for  the  proclama- 
tion issued  on  that  day,  declaring  a  blockade  of  every  port 
of  the  States  in  insurrection,  in  the  following  terms: 

Whereas,  An  insurrection  against  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  has  broken  out  in  the  States  of  South 
Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida,  Mississippi,  Louisiana 
and  Texas,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  for  the  collee- 
ns 


176  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

tion  of  the  revenue  cannot  be  efficiently  executed  therein, 
conformably  to  that  provision  of  the  Constitution  which 
requires  duties  to  be  uniform  throughout  the  United 
States : 

And  whereas,  A  combination  of  persons,  engaged  in 
such  insurrection,  have  threatened  to  grant  pretended 
letters  of  marque  to  authorize  the  bearers  thereof  to  com- 
init  assaults  on  the  lives,  vessels,  and  property  of  good 
citizens  of  the  country  lawfully  engaged  in  commerce  on  the 
high  seas,  and  in  waters  of  the  United  States : 

And  whereas,  An  Executive  Proclamation  has  already 
been  issued,  requiring  the  persons  engaged  in  these  disor- 
derly proceedings  to  desist  therefrom,  calling  out  a  militia 
force  for  the  purpose  of  repressing  the  same,  and  convening 
Congress  in  extraordinary  session  to  deliberate  and  de- 
termine thereon: 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the 
United  States,  with  a  view  to  the  same  purposes  before 
mentioned,  and  to  the  protection  of  the  public  peace,  and 
the  lives  and  property  of  quiet  and  orderly  citizens  pur- 
suing their  lawful  occupations,  until  Congress  shall  have 
assembled  and  deliberated  on  the  said  unlawful  proceedings, 
or  until  the  same  shall  have  ceased,  have  further  deemed  it 
advisable  to  set  on  foot  a  blockade  of  the  ports  within  the 
States  aforesaid,  in  pursuance  of  the  laws  of  the  United 
States,  and  of  the  laws  of  nations  in  such  cases  provided. 
For  this  purpose  a  competent  force  will  be  posted  so  as  to 
prevent  entrance  and  exit  of  vessels  from  the  ports  afore- 
said. If,  therefore,  with  a  view  to  violate  such  blockade,  a 
vessel  shall  approach,  or  shall  attempt  to  leave  any  of  the 
said  ports,  she  will  be  duly  warned  by  the  commander  of 
one  of  the  blockading  vessels,  who  will  endorse  on  her 
register  the  fact  and  date  of  such  warning;  and  if  the  same 
vessel  shall  again  attempt  to  enter  or  leave  the  blockaded 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  177 

port,  she  will  be  captured  and  sent  to  the  nearest  convenient 
port,  for  such  proceedings  against  her  and  her  cargo  as 
prize  as  may  be  deemed  advisable. 

And  I  hereby  proclaim  and  declare,  that  if  any  person, 
under  the  pretended  authority  of  said  States,  or  under  any 
other  pretense,  shall  molest  a  vessel  of  the  United  States 
or  the  persons  or  cargo  on  board  of  her,  such  person  will  be 
held  amenable  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States  for  the  pre- 
vention and  punishment  of  piracy. 

By  the  President:  Abraham  Lincoln. 

William  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State. 

Washington,  April  19,  1861. 

Intelligence  having  been  received  that  Virginia  troops 
were  marching  on  Harper's  Ferry,  to  take  possession  of  the 
important  Government  property  there,  the  public  works 
were  destroyed  and  the  place  evacuated  by  Lieutenant 
Jones,  the  commandant.  Almost  simultaneously  the  Fourth 
Massachusetts  Regiment,  dispatched  by  wise  forethought, 
arrived  at  Fortress  Monroe  (soon  after  reinforced  by  the 
First  Vermont,  under  Colonel  Phelps),  and  secured  a  per- 
manent occupation  of  that  strong  position  in  the  Old  Do- 
minion, which  had  now  become  (without  waiting  for  the 
consummation  of  the  farce  of  a  popular  vote  under  duress) 
the  eighth  State  of  the  Rebel  Confederacy. 

During  this  brief  period — at  the  close  of  a  week  of  unpre- 
cedented excitement  at  Washington  and  of  loyal  enthusiasm 
throughout  the  country — earnest  appeals  were  made  to  the 
President  by  prominent  Marylanders  to  stop  all  attempts  to 
transport  troops  through  that  State  to  the  National  Capital. 
His  prompt  reply  set  all  such  petitions  at  rest.  The  usual 
thoroughfares,  meanwliile,  had  been  obstructed.  Treason 
hoped  the  work  was  already  accomplished,  and  relief  cut 
off.    Timorous  or  hesitating  men  feared  that  the  effort 


178  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

would  be  useless.  But  the  purpose  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  not 
for  an  instant  shaken.  The  route  by  Annapolis  was  opened 
by  General  Butler  and  his  Massachusetts  force,  and  on  the 
25th  of  April  troops  from  the  North  began  to  pour  into 
Washington,  relieving  all  immediate  anxiety.  The  people 
had  nobly  responded.  The  "great  uprising"  was  an  as- 
sured event. 

Congress  convened  on  the  4th  of  July,  in  accordance  with 
the  President's  call  in  his  proclamation  of  April  15th,  and 
organized  by  the  election  of  Mr.  Grow,  of  Pennsylvania,  as 
Speaker.  Little  decisive  action  had  been  taken  prior  to 
the  date  to  which  military  events  have  been  traced  Ln  the 
preceding  chapter.  The  President's  Message  to  Congress, 
at  the  opening  of  this  extra  session,  contains  a  concise  state- 
ment of  the  situation  of  afTairs  at  that  time,  four  months 
having  passed  since  the  delivery  of  his  Inaugural  Address, 
and  presents  his  views  as  to  what  was  required  to  be  done 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  Constitutional  Government. 
With  a  view  of  the  circumstances  under  which  hostilities 
were  commenced,  and  with  a  conclusive  exposure  of  the 
false  pretenses  of  Secessionism,  it  also  clearly  sets  forth  the 
acts,  motives  and  purposes  of  the  President.  This  docu- 
ment is  here  given  at  length : 

Mr.  Lincoln's  First  Message. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives: Having  been  convened  on  an  extraordinary 
occasion,  as  authorized  by  the  Constitution,  your  attention 
is  not  called  to  any  ordinary  subject  of  legislation.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  present  Presidential  term,  four  months 
ago,  the  functions  of  the  Federal  Government  were  found 
to  be  generally  suspended  within  the  several  States  of 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  179 

and  Florida,  excepting  only  those  of  the  Post  Office  De- 
partment. 

Within  these  States  all  the  Forts,  Arsenals,  Dock- Yards, 
Custom-Houses,  and  the  like,  including  the  movable  and 
stationary  property  in  and  about  them,  had  been  seized 
and  were  held  in  open  hostility  to  this  Government,  ex- 
cepting only  Forts  Pickens,  Taylor  and  Jefferson,  on  and 
near  the  Florida  coast,  and  Fort  Sumter  in  Charleston 
harbor.  South  Carolina.  The  forts  thus  seized,  had  been 
put  in  improved  condition,  new  ones  had  been  built,  and 
armed  forces  had  been  organized,  and  were  organizing,  all 
avowedlj'  with  the  same  hostile  purpose. 

The  forts  remaining  in  possession  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment in  and  near  these  States  were  either  besieged  or  men- 
aced by  warlike  preparations,  and  especially  Fort  Sumter 
was  nearly  surrounded  by  well  protected  hostile  batteries, 
with  guns  equal  in  quality  to  the  best  of  its  own,  and  out- 
numbering the  latter  as,  perhaps,  ten  to  one — a  dispropor- 
tionate share  of  the  Federal  muskets  and  rifles  had  some- 
how found  their  way  into  these  States,  and  had  been  seized 
to  be  used  against  the  Government. 

Accumulations  of  the  public  revenue  lying  within  them 
had  been  seized  for  the  same  object.  The  navy  was  scat- 
tered in  distant  seas,  leaving  but  a  very  small  part  of  it 
within  the  immediate  reach  of  the  Government. 

Officers  of  the  Federal  army  had  resigned  in  great  num- 
bers, and  of  those  resigning  a  large  proportion  had  taken  up 
arms  against  the  Government. 

Simultaneously,  and  in  connection  with  all  this,  the  pur- 
pose to  sever  the  Federal  Union  was  openly  avowed.  Li 
accordance  with  this  purpose  an  ordinance  had  been  adopted 
in  each  of  these  States,  declaring  the  States  respectively 
to  be  separated  from  the  National  Union.  A  formula  for 
instituting  a  combined  Government  of  those  States  hatl 


180  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

been  promulgated,  and  this  illegal  organization,  in  the 
character  of  the  "  Confederate  States, "  was  already  invoking 
recognition,  aid  and  intervention  from  foreign  powers. 

Finding  this  condition  of  things,  and  believing  it  to  be  an 
imperative  duty  upon  the  incoming  Executive  to  prevent, 
if  possible,  the  consummation  of  such  attempt  to  destroy 
the  Federal  Union,  a  choice  of  means  to  that  end  became 
indispensable.  Tliis  choice  was  made  and  was  declared 
in  the  Inaugural  Address. 

The  policy  chosen  looked  to  the  exhaustion  of  all  peace- 
ful measures  before  a  resort  to  any  stronger  ones.  It 
sought  only  to  hold  the  public  places  and  property  not 
already  wrested  from  the  Government,  and  to  collect  the 
revenue,  relying  for  the  rest  on  time,  discussion  and  the 
ballot-box.  It  promised  a  continuance  of  the  mails,  at  Gov- 
ernment expense,  to  the  very  people  who  were  resisting  the 
Government,  and  it  gave  repeated  pledges  against  any  dis- 
turbances to  any  of  the  people,  or  any  of  their  rights,  of  all 
that  which  a  President  might  constitutionally  and  justi- 
fiably do  in  such  a  case ;  everything  was  forborne,  without 
which  it  was  believed  possible  to  keep  the  Government  on 
foot. 

On  the  5th  of  March,  the  present  incumbent's  first  full 
day  in  office,  a  letter  from  Major  Anderson,  commanding  at 
Fort  Sumter,  written  on  the  2Sth  of  Felaruary,  and  re- 
ceived at  the  War  Department  on  the  4th  of  March,  was 
by  that  Department  placed  in  his  hands.  Tliis  letter  ex- 
pressed the  professional  opinion  of  the  writer,  that  rein- 
forcements could  not  be  thro\vn  into  that  fort  witliin  the 
time  for  its  relief  rendered  necessary  by  the  limited  supply 
of  provisions,  and  with  a  view  of  holding  possession  of  the 
same,  with  a  force  less  than  20,000  good  and  well-disci- 
plined men.  This  opinion  was  concurred  in  by  all  the 
officers  of  his  command,  and  their  memoranda  on  the  sub- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  181 

ject  were  made  inclosures  of  Major  Anderson's  letter.  The 
whole  was  immediately  laid  before  Lieutenant  General  Scott, 
who  at  once  concurred  with  Major  Anderson  in  liis  opinion. 
On  reflection,  however,  he  took  full  time,  consulting  with 
other  officers,  both  of  the  Army  and  'Nnvy,  and  at  the  end 
of  four  days  came  reluctantly  but  decidedly  to  the  same  con- 
cluions  as  before.  He  also  stated  at  the  same  time  that  no 
such  sufficient  force  was  then  at  the  control  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, or  could  be  raised  and  brought  to  the  ground, 
within  the  time  when  the  provisions  in  the  fort  would  be 
exhausted.  In  a  purely  military  point  of  view,  this  reduced 
the  duty  of  the  Administration  in  the  case  to  the  mere 
matter  of  getting  the  garrison  safely  out  of  the  fort. 

It  was  believed,  however,  that  to  so  abandon  that  posi- 
tion, under  the  circumstances,  would  be  utterly  ruinous; 
that  the  necessity  under  which  it  was  to  be  done  would  not 
be  fully  understood ;  that  by  many  it  would  be  construed 
as  a  part  of  a  voluntary  policy;  that  at  home  it  would  dis- 
courage the  friends  of  the  Union,  embolden  its  adversaries, 
and  go  far  to  insure  to  the  latter  a  recognition  abroad ,  that 
in  fact,  it  would  be  our  national  destruction  consummated. 
This  could  not  be  allowed.  Starvation  was  not  yet  upon 
the  garrison,  and  ere  it  would  bo  reached.  Fort  Pickens 
might  be  reinforced.  This  last  would  be  a  clear  indication 
of  policy,  and  would  better  enable  the  country  to  accept  the 
evacuation  of  Fort  Sumter  as  a  military  necessity.  An 
order  was  at  once  directed  to  be  sent  for  the  landing  of  the 
troops  from  the  steamship  Brooklyn  into  Fort  Pickens. 
This  order  could  not  go  by  land,  but  must  take  the  longer 
and  slower  route  by  sea.  The  first  return  news  from  the 
order  was  received  just  one  week  before  the  fall  of  Sumter. 
The  news  itself  was  that  the  officer  commanding  the  Sabine, 
to  wluch  vessel  the  troops  had  been  transferred  from  the 
Brooklyn,  acting  upon  some  quasi  armistice  of  the  late 


182  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Administration,  and  of  the  existence  of  which  the  present 
Administration,  up  to  the  time  the  order  was  dispatched,  had 
only  too  vague  and  uncertain  rumors  to  fix  attention,  had 
refused  to  land  the  troops.  To  now  reinforce  Fort  Pickens 
before  a  crisis  would  be  reached  at  Fort  Sumter  was  im- 
possible, rendered  so  by  the  near  exhaustion  of  pro\'isions 
at  the  latter  named  fort.  In  precaution  against  such  a 
conjuncture  the  Government  had  a  few  days  before  com- 
menced preparing  an  expedition,  as  well  adapted  as  might 
be,  to  relieve  Fort  Sumter,  which  expedition  was  intended 
to  be  ultimately  used  or  not,  according  to  circumstances. 
The  strongest  anticipated  case  for  using  it  was  now  pre- 
sented, and  it  was  resolved  to  send  it  forward  as  had  been 
intended.  In  this  contingency  it  was  also  resolved  to 
notify  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina  that  he  might  ex- 
pect an  attempt  would  be  made  to  provision  the  fort,  and 
that  if  the  attempt  should  not  be  resisted  there  would  be 
no  attempt  to  throw  in  men,  arms  or  ammunition,  without 
further  notice,  or  in  case  of  an  attack  upon  the  fort.  This 
notice  was  accordingly  given,  whereupon  the  fort  was  at- 
tacked and  bombarded  to  its  fall,  M'ithout  even  awaiting 
the  arrival  of  the  provisioning  expedition. 

It  is  thus  seen  that  the  assault  upon  and  reduction  of  Fort 
Sumter  was,  in  no  sense,  a  matter  of  self-defense  on  the 
part  of  the  assailants.  They  well  knew  that  the  garrison  in 
the  fort  could  by  no  possibility  commit  aggression  upon 
them ;  they  knew  they  were  expressly  notified  that  the  giv- 
ing of  bread  to  the  few  brave  and  hungry  men  of  the  gar- 
rison was  all  which  would,  on  that  occasion,  be  attempted, 
unless  themselves,  by  resisting  so  much,  should  provoke 
more.  They  knew  that  this  Government  desired  to  keep 
the  garrison  in  the  fort,  not  to  assail  them,  but  merely  to 
maintain  \asible  possession,  and  thus  to  preserve  the  Union 
from  actual  and  immediate  dissolution ;  trusting,  as  here- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  183 

inbefore  stated,  to  time,  discussion,  and  the  ballot-box  for 
final  adjustment,  and  they  assailed  and  reduced  the  fort, 
for  precisely  the  reverse  object,  to  drive  out  the  visible 
authority  of  the  Federal  Union,  and  thus  force  it  to  imme- 
diate dissolution;  that  this  was  their  object  the  Executive 
well  understood,  having  said  to  them  in  the  Inaugural 
Address,  "you  can  have  no  conflict  without  being  your- 
selves the  aggressors."  He  took  pains  not  only  to  keep 
this  declaration  good,  but  also  to  keep  the  case  so  far  from 
ingenious  sophistry  as  that  the  world  should  not  misunder- 
stand it.  By  the  affair  at  Fort  Sumter,  with  its  surround- 
ing circumstances,  that  point  was  reached.  Then  and 
thereby  the  assailants  of  the  Government  began  the  con- 
flict of  arms — without  a  gun  in  sight,  or  in  expectancy,  to 
return  their  fire,  save  only  the  few  in  the  fort  sent  to  that 
harbor  years  before,  for  their  own  protection,  and  still 
ready  to  give  that  protection  in  whatever  was  lawful.  In 
this  act,  discarding  all  else,  they  have  forced  upon  the 
country  the  distinct  issue,  immediate  dissolution  or  blood, 
and  this  issue  embraces  more  than  the  fate  of  these  United 
States.  It  presents  to  the  whole  family  of  man  the  ques- 
tion whether  a  Constitutional  Republic  or  Democracy,  a 
Government  of  the  people,  by  the  same  people,  can  or  can 
not  maintain  its  territorial  integrity  against  its  own  do- 
mestic foes.  It  presents  the  question  whether  discontented 
individuals,  too  few  in  numbers  to  control  the  Adminis- 
tration according  to  the  organic  law  in  any  case,  can  always, 
upon  the  pretenses  made  in  this  case,  or  any  other  pre- 
tenses, or  arbitrarily  without  any  pretense,  break  up  their 
Government,  and  thus  practically  put  an  end  to  free  gov- 
ernment upon  the  earth.  It  forces  us  to  ask,  "Is  there  in 
all  republics  this  inherent  and  fatal  weakness?"  Must  a 
government  of  necessity  be  too  strong  for  the  liberties  of 
its  own  people,  or  too  weak  to  maintain  its  own  existence? 


184  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

So  viewing  the  issue,  no  choice  was  left  but  to  call  out  the 
war  power  of  the  Government,  and  so  to  resist  the  force 
employed  for  its  destruction  by  force  for  its  preservation. 
The  call  was  made,  and  the  response  of  the  coimtry  was 
most  gratifying,  surpassing,  in  unanimity  and  spirit  the 
most  sanguine  expectation.  Yet  none  of  the  States,  com- 
monly called  Slave  States,  except  Delaware,  gave  a  regi- 
ment through  the  regular  State  organization.  A  few 
regiments  have  been  organized  within  some  others  of  those 
States  by  individual  enterprise,  and  received  into  the 
Government  service.  Of  course  the  seceded  States,  so 
called,  and  to  which  Texas  had  been  joined  about  the  time 
of  the  inauguration,  gave  no  troops  to  the  cause  of  the 
Union.  The  Border  States,  so-called,  were  not  uniform  in 
their  action,  some  of  them  being  almost  for  the  Union, 
while  in  others,  as  in  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee, 
and  Arkansas,  the  L^nion  sentiment  was  nearly  suppressed 
and  silenced.  The  course  taken  in  \'irginia  was  the  most 
remarkable,  perhaps  the  most  important.  A  Convention 
elected  by  the  people  of  that  State,  to  consider  this  very 
question  of  disrupting  the  Federal  Union,  was  in  session  at 
the  capital  of  Virginia  when  Fort  Sumter  fell. 

To  this  body  the  people  had  chosen  a  large  majority  of 
professed  Union  men.  Almost  immediately  after  the  fall 
of  Sumter  many  members  of  that  majority  went  over  to 
the  original  disunion  minority,  and  with  them  adopted  an 
ordinance  for  withdrawing  the  State  from  the  Union. 
Whether  this  change  was  wrought  by  their  great  approval 
of  the  assault  upon  Sumter,  or  their  great  resentment  at 
the  Government's  resistance  to  that  assault,  is  not  definitely 
known.  Although  they  submitted  the  ordinance  for  ratifi- 
cation to  a  vote  of  the  people,  to  be  taken  on  a  day  then 
somewhat  more  than  a  month  distant,  the  Convention  and 
the  Legislature,  which  was  also  in  session  at  the  same  time 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  185 

and  place,  with  leading  men  of  the  State,  not  members  of 
either,  immediately  commenced  acting  as  if  the  State  was 
already  out  of  the  Union.  They  pushed  military  prepara- 
tions vigorously  forward  all  over  the  State.  They  seized 
the  United  States  Armory  at  Harper's  Ferry,  and  the  Navy 
Yard  at  Gosport,  near  Norfolk.  They  received,  perhaps 
invited  into  their  State,  large  bodies  of  troops,  wdth  their 
warlike  appointments,  from  the  so-called  seceded  States. 

They  formally  entered  into  a  treaty  of  temporary  alli- 
ance with  the  so-called  Confederate  States,  and  sent  num- 
bers to  their  Congress  at  Montgomery,  and  finally  they  per- 
mitted the  insurrectionary  Government  to  be  transferred 
to  their  capitol  at  Richmond.  The  people  of  Virginia  have 
thus  allowed  this  giant  insurrection  to  make  its  nest  within 
her  borders,  and  tliis  Government  has  no  choice  left  but  to 
deal  with  it  where  it  finds  it,  and  it  has  the  less  to  regret  as 
the  loyal  citizens  have,  in  due  form,  claimed  its  protection. 
Those  loyal  citizens  tliis  Government  is  bound  to  recognize 
and  protect  as  being  in  Virginia.  In  the  Border  States,  so- 
called,  in  fact  the  Middle  States,  there  are  those  who  favor 
a  policy  which  they  call  armed  neutrality,  that  is,  an  arm- 
ing of  those  States  to  prevent  the  Union  forces  passing  one 
way  or  the  disunion  forces  the  other  over  their  soil.  This 
would  be  disunion  completed.  Figuratively  speaking  it 
would  be  the  building  of  an  impassable  wall  along  the  line 
of  separation,  and  yet  not  quite  an  impassable  one,  for 
under  the  guise  of  neutrality  it  would  tie  the  hands  of  the 
Union  men,  and  freely  pass  supplies  from  among  them  to 
the  insurrectionists,  which  it  could  not  do  as  an  open 
enemy.  At  a  stroke  it  would  take  all  the  trouble  off  the 
hands  of  secession,  except  only  what  proceeds  from  the 
external  blockade.  It  would  do  for  the  disunionists  that 
which  of  all  things  they  most  desire,  feed  them  well  and  give 
them  disunion  without  a  struggle  of  their  own.    It  recog- 


18G  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

nizes  no  fidelity  to  tlie  Constitution,  no  obligation  to  main- 
tain the  Union,  and  while  the  many  who  have  favored  it  are 
doubtless  loyal  citizens,  it  is,  nevertheless,  very  injurious 
in  effect. 

Recurring  to  the  action  of  the  Government  it  may  be 
stated  that  at  first  a  call  was  made  for  75,000  militia,  and 
rapidly  following  this  a  proclamation  was  issued  for  closing 
the  ports  of  the  insurrectionary  districts  by  proceedings  in 
the  nature  of  blockade.  So  far  all  was  believed  to  be 
strictly  legal. 

At  this  point  the  insurrectionists  announced  their  pur- 
pose to  enter  upon  the  practice  of  privateering. 

Other  calls  were  made  for  volunteers,  to  serve  three  years 
unless  sooner  discharged,  and  also  for  large  additions  to  the 
regular  army  and  navy.  These  measures,  whether  strictly 
legal  or  not,  were  ventured  upon  under  what  appeared  to  be 
a  popular  demand  and  a  public  necessity,  trusting  then. 
as  now,  that  Congress  would  ratify  them. 

It  is  believed  that  nothing  has  been  done  beyond  the 
constitutional  competency  of  Congress.  Soon  after  the 
first  call  for  militia  it  was  considered  a  duty  to  authorize  the 
commanding  general,  in  proper  cases,  according  to  his  dis- 
cretion, to  suspend  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus; 
or,  in  other  words,  to  arrest  and  detain,  without  resort  to  the 
ordinary  processes  and  forms  of  la^v,  such  indi\'iduals  as  he 
might  deem  dangerous  to  the  public  safety.  This  author- 
ity has  purposely  been  exercised,  but  very  sparingly. 
Nevertheless  the  legality  and  propriety  of  what  has  been 
done  under  it  are  questioned,  and  the  attention  of  the 
country  has  been  called  to  the  proposition  that  one  who  is 
sworn  to  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed, 
should  not  himself  violate  them.  Of  course  some  consider- 
ation was  given  to  the  questions  of  power  and  propriety 
before  this  matter  was  acted  upon.     The  whole  of  the  laws 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  187 

which  were  required  to  be  faithfully  executed  were  being 
resisted,  and  failing  of  execution  in  noarl.y  one-third  of  the 
States.  Must  they  be  allowed  to  finally  fail  of  execution, 
even  had  it  been  perfectly  clear  that,  by  use  of  the  means 
necessary  to  their  execution,  some  single  law,  made  in  such 
extreme  tenderness  of  the  citizen's  liberty  that  practically 
it  relieves  more  of  the  guilty  than  the  innocent,  should,  to  a 
very  great  extent,  be  violated?  To  state  the  question 
more  directly,  are  all  the  laws  but  one  to  go  unexecuted, 
and  the  Government  itself  to  go  to  pieces  lest  that  one  be 
violated?  Even  in  such  a  case  would  not  the  official  oath 
be  broken  if  the  Government  should  be  overthrown  when 
it  was  believed  that  disregarding  the  single  law  would  tend 
to  preserve  it. 

But  it  was  not  believed  that  this  (luestion  was  presented. 
It  was  not  believed  that  any  law  was  violated.  The  pro- 
vision of  the  Constitution,  that  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspended,  unless  when,  in  cases 
of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public  safety  may  require  it,  is 
equivalent  to  a  provision  that  such  privilege  may  be  sus- 
pended when,  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public 
safety  does  require  it.  It  was  decided  that  we  have  a  case  of 
rebellion,  and  that  the  public  safety  does  require  the  quali- 
fied suspension  of  the  privilege  of  the  writ,  which  was 
authorzied  to  be  made.  Now,  it  is  insisted  that  Congress 
and  not  the  Executive,  is  vested  with  this  power.  But 
the  Constitution  itself  is  silent  as  to  which  or  who  is  to 
exercise  the  power;  and  as  the  provision  was  plainly  made 
for  a  dangerous  emergency,  it  cannot  be  believed  that  the 
framers  of  the  instrument  intended  that  in  every  case  the 
danger  should  run  its  course  until  Congress  could  be  called 
together,  the  very  assembling  of  which  might  be  prevented, 
as  was  intended  in  this  case  by  the  rebellion.  No  more 
extended  argument  is  now  afforded,  as  an  opinion  at  some 


188  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

length  will  probably  be  presented  by  the  Attorney-General. 
Whether  there  shall  be  any  legislation  on  the  subject,  and 
if  so,  what,  is  submitted  entirely  to  the  better  judgment  of 
Congress.  The  forbearance  of  this  Government  had  been  so 
extraordinary,  and  so  long  continued,  as  to  lead  some  foreign 
nations  to  shape  their  action  as  if  they  supposed  the  early 
destruction  of  our  National  Union  was  probable.  'While 
this,  on  discovery,  gave  the  Executive  some  concern,  he  is 
now  happy  to  say  that  the  sovereignty  and  rights  of  the 
United  States  are  now  ever3^here  practically  respected  by 
foreign  powers,  and  a  general  sympathy  with  the  country  is 
manifested  throughout  the  world. 

The  reports  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury,  War,  and 
the  Navy,  will  give  the  information,  in  detail,  deemed  nec- 
essary and  convenient  for  your  deliberation  and  action, 
while  the  Executive  and  all  the  Departments  vnW  stand 
ready  to  supply  omissions  or  to  communicate  new  facts 
considered  important  for  you  to  know. 

It  is  now  recommended  that  you  give  the  legal  means  for 
making  this  contest  a  short  and  decisive  one;  that  you 
place  at  the  control  of  the  government  for  the  work  at  least 
400,000  men  and  $400,000,000;  that  number  of  men  is 
about  one-tenth  of  those  of  proper  ages  within  the  regions 
where  apparently  all  are  \\'illing  to  engage,  and  the  sum  is 
less  than  a  twenty-third  part  of  the  money  value  owned  by 
the  men  who  seem  ready  to  devote  the  whole.  A  debt  of 
$600,000,000  now  is  a  less  sum  per  head  than  was  the  debt 
of  our  Revolution  when  we  came  out  of  that  struggle,  and 
the  money  value  in  the  country  bears  even  a  greater  pro- 
portion to  what  it  was  then  than  does  the  population. 
Surely  each  man  has  as  strong  a  motive  now  to  preserve 
our  liberties  as  each  had  then  to  establish  them. 

A  right  result  at  this  time  will  be  worth  more  to  the 
world  than  ten  times  the  men  and  ten  times  the  money. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  189 

The  evidence  reaching  us  from  the  country  leaves  no  doubt 
that  the  material  for  the  work  is  abundant,  and  that  it 
needs  only  the  hands  of  legislation  t6  give  it  legal  sanction, 
and  the  Jiand  of  the  Executive  to  give  it  practical  shape  and 
efficiency.  One  of  the  greatest  perplexities  of  the  Govern- 
ment is  to  avoid  receiving  troops  faster  than  it  can  provide 
for  them;  in  a  word  the  people  will  save  their  Government 
if  the  Government  will  do  its  part  only  indifferently  well. 
It  might  seem  at  first  thought  to  be  of  little  difference 
whether  the  present  movement  at  the  South  be  called 
secession  or  rebellion.  The  movers,  however,  well  under- 
stand the  difference.  At  the  beginning  they  knew  that 
they  could  never  raise  their  treason  to  any  respectable 
magnitude  by  any  name  wliich  implies  violation  of  law; 
they  knew  their  people  possessed  as  much  of  moral  sense, 
as  much  of  devotion  to  law  and  order,  and  as  much  pride  in 
its  reverence  for  the  history  and  government  of  their  com- 
mon coimtry,  as  any  other  civilized  and  patriotic  people. 
They  knew  they  could  make  no  advancement  directly  in 
the  teeth  of  these  strong  and  noble  sentiments.  Accord- 
ingly they  commenced  by  an  insidious  debauching  of  the 
public  mind;  they  invented  an  ingenious  sophism,  which, 
if  conceded,  was  followed  by  perfectly  logical  steps  through 
all  the  incidents  of  the  complete  destruction  of  the  Union. 
The  sophism  itself  is  that  any  State  of  the  Union  may, 
consistently  with  the  nation's  constitution,  and  therefore 
lawfully  and  peacefully,  withdraw  from  the  Union  without 
the  consent  of  the  Union  or  of  any  other  State. 

The  little  disguise  that  the  supposed  right  is  to  be  exer- 
cised only  for  just  cause,  themselves  to  be  the  sole  judge  of 
its  justice,  is  too  thin  to  merit  any  notice  with  rebellion. 
Thus  sugar-coated,  they  have  been  drugging  the  public 
mind  of  their  section  for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  until 
at  length  they  have  brought  many  good  men  to  a  willing- 


190  Life   of  Abraham   Lincoln. 

ness  to  take  up  arms  against  the  Government  the  day  after 
some  assemblage  of  men  have  enacted  the  farcical  pre- 
tense of  taking  their  State  out  of  the  Union,  who  could 
ha\'e  been  brought  to  no  such  thing  the  day  before.  This 
sophism  derives  much,  perhaps  the  whole  of  its  currency, 
from  the  assumption  that  there  is  some  omnipotent  and 
sacred  supremacy  pertaining  to  a  State,  to  each  State  of 
our  Federal  Union.  Our  States  have  neither  more  nor  less 
power  than  that  preserved  to  them  in  the  Union  by  the 
Constitution,  no  one  of  them  ever  having  been  a  State  out 
of  the  Union.  The  original  ones  passed  into  the  L^nion 
before  they  east  off  their  British  Colonial  dependence,  and 
the  new  ones  came  into  the  Union  directly  from  a  condi- 
tion of  dependence,  excepting  Texas,  and  even  Texas,  in 
its  temporary  independence,  was  noA'er  designated  as  a 
State.  The  new  ones  only  took  the  designation  of  States 
on  coming  into  the  Union,  while  that  name  was  first  adopted 
for  the  old  ones  in  and  by  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Therein  the  United  Colonies  were  declared  to  be  jree  and 
independent  States.  But  even  then  the  object  plainly  was 
not  to  declare  their  independence  of  one  another  of  the 
Union,  but  directly  the  contrary,  as  their  mutual  pledge 
and  their  mutual  action  before,  at  the  time,  and  afterward, 
abundantly  show.  The  express  plight  of  faith  by  each  and 
all  of  the  original  thirteen  States  in  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation two  years  later  that  the  Union  shall  be  per- 
petual, is  most  conclusive.  Having  never  been  States 
either  in  substance  or  in  name  outside  of  the  Union,  whence 
this  magical  omnipotence  of  State  rights,  asserting  a  claim 
of  power  to  lawfully  destroy  the  Union  itself.  Much  is 
said  about  the  sovereignty  of  the  States,  but  the  word  even 
is  not  in  the  National  Constitution,  nor,  as  is  believed,  in 
any  of  the  State  constitutions.  What  is  sovereignty  in  the 
pohtical  sense  of  the  word?    Would  it  be  far  wrong  to  de- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  191 

fine  it  a  political  community  without  a  political  superior? 
Tested  by  this,  no  one  of  our  States,  except  Texas,  ever  was 
a  sovereignty.  And  even  Texas  gave  up  the  character 
on  coming  into  the  Union;  by  which  act,  she  acknowledged 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  laws  and 
treaties  of  the  United  States,  made  in  pursuance  of  the  Con- 
stitution, to  be,  for  her,  the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  The 
States  have  their  status  in  the  Union,  and  they  have  n  > 
other  legal  status.  If  they  break  from  this  they  can  only 
do  so  against  law  and  by  revolution.  The  Union  and  not 
themselves  separately  procured  their  independence  and 
their  liberty  by  conquest  or  purchase.  The  Union  gave 
each  of  them  whatever  of  independence  and  liberty  it  has. 
The  Union  is  older  than  any  of  the  States,  and,  in  fact,  it 
created  them  as  States.  Originally,  some  dependent 
colonies  made  the  Union,  and  in  turn  the  Union  threw  off 
their  old  dependence  for  them  and  made  them  States,  such 
as  they  are.  Not  one  of  them  ever  had  a  State  constitu- 
tion independent  of  the  Union.  Of  course  it  is  not  forgotten 
that  all  tl:e  new  States  formed  their  constitutions  before 
they  entered  the  Union;  nevertheless,  dependent  upon, 
and  preparatory  to  coming  into  the  Union.  Unquestionably 
the  States  have  the  powers  and  rights  reserved  to  them  in 
and  by  the  National  Constitution. 

But  among  these  surely  are  not  included  all  conceivable 
powers,  however  mischievous  or  destructive,  but  at  most 
such  only  as  were  known  in  the  world  at  the  time  as  gov- 
ernmental powers,  and  certainly  a  power  to  destroy  the 
Government  itself  had  never  been  known  as  governmental, 
as  a  merely  administrative  power.  This  relative  matter  of 
national  power  and  State  rights  as  a  principle,  is  no  other 
than  the  principle  of  generality  and  locality.  Whatever 
concerns  the  whole  should  be  conferred  to  the  whole  general 
Government,    while   whatever   concerns   only   the   State 


192  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

should  be  left  exclusively  to  the  State.  This  is  all  there  is 
of  original  principle  about  it.  Whether  the  National  Con- 
stitution, in  defining  boundaries  between  the  two,  has  ap- 
plied the  principle  with  exact  accuracy,  is  not  to  be  ques- 
tioned. We  are  all  bound  by  that  defining  without  ques- 
tion. What  is  now  combated  is  the  position  that  seces- 
sion is  consistent  with  the  Constitution,  is  lawful  and  peace- 
ful. It  is  not  contended  that  there  is  any  express  law  for 
it,  and  notliing  should  ever  be  implied  as  law  which  leads 
to  unjust  or  absurd  consequences.  The  nation  purchased 
with  money  the  countries  out  of  which  several  of  these 
States  were  formed.  Is  it  just  that  they  shall  go  off  with- 
out leave  and  without  refunding?  The  nation  paid  very 
large  sums  in  the  aggregate,  I  believe  nearly  a  hundred 
niilUons,  to  relieve  Florida  of  the  aboriginal  tribes.  Is  it 
just  that  she  shall  now  be  off  without  consent,  or  without 
any  return?  The  nation  is  now  in  debt  for  money  applied 
to  the  benefit  of  these  so-called  seceding  States,  in  common 
with  the  rest.  Is  it  just,  either  that  creditors  shall  go 
unpaid,  or  the  remaining  States  pay  the  whole?  A  part  of 
the  present  National  debt  was  contracted  to  pay  the  old 
debt  of  Texas.  Is  it  just  that  she  shall  leave  and  pay  no 
part  of  this  herself?  Again,  if  one  State  may  secede,  so 
may  another,  and  when  all  shall  have  seceded  none  is  left 
to  pay  the  debts.  Is  this  quite  just  to  creditors?  Did  we 
notify  them  of  this  sage  view  of  ours  when  we  borrowed 
their  money?  If  we  now  recognize  tliis  doctrine  by  allow- 
ing the  seceders  to  go  in  peace,  it  is  difficult  to  see  what 
we  can  do  if  others  choose  to  go,  or  to  extort  terms  upon 
which  they  will  promise  to  remain.  The  seceders  insist 
that  our  Constitution  admits  of  secession.  They  have 
assumed  to  make  a  National  Constitution  of  their  o-wn,  in 
which,  of  necessity,  they  have  either  discarded  or  retained 
the  right  of  secession,  as  they  insist  exists  in  ours.    If  they 


^/-  4 


u 


S'm/i 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  193 

have  discarded  it,  they  thereby  admit  that  on  principle  it 
ought  not  to  exist  in  ours ;  if  they  have  retained  it,  by  tlieir 
own  construction  of  ours  that  shows  that  to  be  consistent, 
they  must  secede  from  one  another  whenever  they  shall 
find  it  the  easiest  way  of  settling  their  debts,  or  effecting 
any  other  selfish  or  unjust  object.  The  principle  itself  is 
one  of  disintegration,  and  upon  which  no  Government  can 
possibly  endure.  If  all  the  States  save  one  should  assert 
the  power  to  drive  that  one  out  of  the  Union,  it  is  pre- 
sumed the  whole  class  of  seceder  politicians  would  at  once 
deny  the  power,  and  denounce  the  act  as  the  greatest  out- 
rage upon  State  rights.  But  suppose  that  precisely  the 
same  act,  instead  of  being  called  driving  the  one  out,  should 
be  called  the  seceding  of  the  others  from  the  one,  it  would 
be  exactly  what  the  seceders  claim  to  do,  unless,  indeed, 
they  made  the  point  that  the  one,  because  it  is  a  minority, 
may  rightfully  do  what  the  others,  because  they  are  a 
majority,  may  not  rightfully  do.  These  politicians  are 
subtle,  and  profound  in  the  rights  of  minorities.  They  are 
not  partial  to  that  power  wliich  made  the  Constitution, 
and  speaks  from  the  preamble,  calling  itself,  "We,  the 
people."  It  may  be  well  questioned  whether  there  is  to- 
day a  majority  of  the  legally  qualified  voters  of  any  State, 
except,  perhajjs,  South  Carolina  in  favor  of  disunion. 
There  is  much  reason  to  believe  that  the  Union  men  are  the 
majority  in  many,  if  not  in  every  one  of  the  so-called 
seceded  States.  The  contrary  has  not  been  demonstrated 
in  any  one  of  them.  It  is  ventured  to  affirm  this,  even  of 
Virginia  and  Tennessee,  for  the  result  of  an  election  held  in 
military  camps,  where  the  bayonets  are  all  on  one  side  of 
the  question  voted  upon,  can  scarcely  be  considered  as  de- 
monstrating popular  sentiment.  At  such  an  election  all 
that  large  class  who  are  at  once  for  the  Union  and  against 
coercion  would  be  coerced  to  vote  against  the  Union.    It 


194  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

may  be  affirmed,  without  extravagance,  that  the  free  insti- 
tutions we  enjoy  have  developed  the  powers  and  improved 
the  condition  of  our  whole  people  beyond  any  example  in 
the  world.  Of  this  we  now  have  a  striking  and  impressive 
illustration.  So  large  an  army  as  the  Government  has  now 
on  foot  was  never  before  known,  without  a  soldier  in  it  but 
who  has  taken  his  place  there  of  his  own  free  choice.  But 
more  than  this,  there  are  many  single  regiments  whose 
members,  one  and  another,  possess  full  practical  knowledge 
of  all  the  arts,  sciences,  professions,  and  whatever  else, 
whether  useful  or  elegant,  is  known  in  the  whole  world,  and 
there  is  scarcely  one  from  which  there  could  not  be  selected 
a  President,  a  Cabinet,  a  Congress,  and  perhaps  a  Court, 
abundantly  competent  to  administer  the  Government 
itself.  Nor  do  I  say  this  is  not  true  also  in  the  army  of  our 
late  friends,  now  adversaries,  in  this  contest.  But  it  is  so 
much,  better  the  reason  why  the  Government  which  has 
conferred  such  benefits  upon  both  them  and  us  should  not 
be  broken  up.  Whoever  in  any  section  proposes  to  aban- 
don such  a  Government,  would  do  well  to  consider  in 
deference  to  what  principle  it  is  that  he  does  it.  What 
better  he  is  likely  to  get  in  its  stead,  whether  the  substitute 
will  give,  or  be  intended  to  give  so  much  of  good  to  the 
people.  There  are  some  foreshadowings  on  this  subject. 
Our  adversaries  have  adopted  some  declarations  of  inde- 
pendence in  which,  unlike  our  good  old  one  penned  by 
Jefferson,  they  omit  the  words,  "  all  men  are  created  equal. " 
Why?  They  have  adopted  a  temporary  National  Consti- 
tution, in  the  preamble  of  which,  unlike  our  good  old  one 
signed  by  Washington,  they  omit  "we  the  people,"  and 
substitute  "We,  the  deputies  of  the  sovereign  and  inde- 
pendent States."  Why?  Why  this  deliberate  pressing 
out  of  view  the  rights  of  men  and  the  authority  of  the 
people?    This  is  essentially  a  people's  contest.    On  the 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  195 

side  of  the  Union  it  is  a  struggle  for  maintaining  in  the 
world  that  form  and  substance  of  Government  whose  lead- 
ing object  is  to  elevate  the  condition  of  men,  to  lift  artificial 
weights  from  all  shoulders,  to  clear  the  paths  of  laudable 
pursuit  for  all,  to  afford  all  an  unfettered  start  and  a  fair 
chance  in  the  race  of  life,  yielding  to  partial  and  temporary- 
departures  from  necessity.  This  is  the  leading  object  of 
the  Government,  for  whose  existence  we  contend. 

I  am  most  happy  to  believe  that  the  plain  people  under- 
stand and  appreciate  this.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  while 
in  tliis,  the  Government's  hour  of  trial,  large  numbers  of 
those  in  the  army  and  navy  who  have  been  favored  with 
the  officers,  have  resigned  and  proved  false  to  the  hand 
which  pampered  them,  not  one  common  sailor  or  common 
sailor  is  known  to  have  deserted  his  flag.  Great  honor  is 
due  to  those  officers  who  remained  true  despite  the  ex- 
amples of  their  treacherous  associates,  but  the  greatest 
honor  and  the  most  important  fact  of  all,  is  the  unanimous 
firnmess  of  the  common  soldiers  and  the  common  sailors. 
To  the  last  man,  so  far  as  known,  they  have  successfully 
resisted  the  traitorous  efforts  of  those  whose  commands 
but  an  hour  before  they  obeyed  as  absolute  law.  This  is 
the  patriotic  instinct  of  plain  people.  They  understand 
without  an  argument  that  the  destroying  the  Government 
which  was  made  by  Washington  means  no  good  to  them. 
Our  popular  Government  has  often  been  called  an  experi- 
ment. Two  points  in  it  our  people  have  settled:  the  suc- 
cessful establishing  and  the  successful  administering  of  it. 
One  still  remains.  Its  successful  maintenance  against  a 
formidable  internal  attempt  to  overthrow  it.  It  is  now 
for  them  to  demonstrate  to  the  world  that  those  who  can 
fairly  carry  an  election,  can  also  suppress  a  rebellion ;  that 
ballots  are  the  rightful  and  peaceful  successors  of  bullets, 
and  that  when  ballots  have  fairly  and  constitutionally  de- 


196  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

cifled,  there  can  be  no  successful  appeal  back  to  bullets; 
that  tliere  can  be  no  successful  appeal  except  to  ballots 
themselves  at  succeeding  elections.  Such  will  be  a  great 
lesson  of  peace,  teaching  men  that  what  they  can  not  take 
by  an  election,  neither  can  they  take  by  a  war,  teaching  all 
the  folly  of  being  the  beginners  of  a  war. 

Lest  there  be  some  uneasiness  in  the  mind  of  candid  men 
as  to  what  is  to  be  the  course  of  the  Government  toward  the 
Southern  States  after  the  rebellion  shall  have  been  sup- 
pressed, the  Executive  deems  it  proper  to  say  it  will  be  his 
purpose  then,  as  ever,  to  be  guided  by  the  Constitution  and 
the  laws,  and  that  he  probably  will  have  no  different  under- 
standing of  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  Federal  Govermnent 
relatively  to  the  rights  of  the  States  and  the  people  under  the 
Constitution  than  that  expressed  in  the  Inaugural  Address. 
He  desires  to  preserve  the  Government  that  it  may  be  ad- 
ministered for  all,  as  it  was  administered  by  the  men  who 
made  it.  Loyal  citizens  everywhere  have  a  right  to  claim 
this  of  their  Government,  and  the  Government  has  no 
right  to  withhold  or  neglect  it.  It  is  not  percei  ved  that  in 
giving  it  there  is  any  coercion,  conquest  or  subjugation  in 
any  sense  of  these  terms. 

The  Constitution  provided,  and  all  the  States  have  ac- 
cepted the  provision,  "that  the  United  States  shall  guar- 
antee to  every  State  in  this  Union  a  Republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment, "  but  if  a  State  may  lawfully  go  out  of  the  Union, 
having  done  so,  it  may  also  discard  the  Republican  form  of 
Government.  So  that  to  prevent  its  going  out  is  an  indis- 
pensable means  to  the  end  of  maintaining  the  guarantee 
mentioned;  and  when  an  end  is  lawful  and  obligatory,  the 
indispensable  means  to  it  are  also  lawful  and  obligatory. 

It  was  with  the  deepest  regret  that  the  Executive  found 
the  duty  of  employing  the  war  power.  In  defense  of  the 
Government  forced  upon  liim,  he  could  but  perform  this 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  197 

duty  or  surrender  the  existence  of  the  Government.  No 
compromise  b}'  public  servants  could  in  this  case  be  a  cure, 
not  that  compromises  are  not  often  proper,  but  that  no 
popular  government  can  long  survive  a  marked  precedent, 
that  those  who  carry  an  election  can  only  save  the  Govern- 
ment from  immediate  destruction  by  giving  up  the  main 
point  upon  which  the  people  gave  the  election.  The  people 
themselves  and  not  their  servants  can  safely  reverse  their 
own  deliberate  decisions. 

As  a  private  citizen  the  Executive  could  not  have  con- 
sented that  these  institutions  shall  perish,  much  less  could 
he,  in  betrayal  of  so  vast  and  so  sacred  a  trust  as  these  free 
people  had  confided  to  him.  He  felt  that  he  had  no  moral 
right  to  shrink,  nor  even  to  count  the  chances  of  his  own 
life  in  what  might  follow. 

In  full  view  of  his  great  responsibility,  he  has  so  far  tlone 
what  he  has  deemed  his  duty.  You  will  now,  according  to 
your  own  judgment,  perform  yours.  He  sincerely  hopes 
that  your  views  and  your  actions  may  so  accord  with  his  as 
to  assure  all  faithful  citizens  who  have  been  disturbed  in 
their  rights,  of  a  certain  and  speedy  restoration  to  them 
under  the  Constitution  and  laws,  and  having  thus  chosen 
our  cause  without  guile,  and  with  pure  purpose,  let  us  re- 
new our  trust  in  God,  and  go  forward  without  fear  and 
with  manly  hearts. 

July  4,  186L  Abraham  Lincoln. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
Messages  and  Addresses  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 

The  President,  fully  sensible  of  the  besetting  dangers, 
and  mindful  of  the  situation  of  affairs  in  these  and  other 
respects,  submitted  to  Congress  the  following  views,  in  a 
message  which  was  received  with  great  popular  favor; 

Fellow-Citizens  op  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives: In  the  midst  of  unprecedented  political 
troubles,  we  have  cause  of  great  gratitude  to  God  for  un- 
usual good  health  and  most  abundant  harvests. 

You  will  not  be  surprised  to  learn  that,  in  the  particular 
exigencies  of  the  times,  our  intercourse  with  foreign  nations 
has  been  attended  with  profound  solicitude,  chiefly  turning 
upon  our  own  domestic  affairs. 

A  disloyal  portion  of  the  American  people  have,  during 
the  whole  year,  been  engaged  in  an  attempt  to  divide  and 
destroy  the  Union.  A  nation  which  endures  factious  do- 
mestic division,  is  exposed  to  disrespect  abroad;  and  one 
party,  if  not  both,  is  sure,  sooner  or  later,  to  invoke  foreign 
intervention. 

Nations  thus  tempted  to  interfere,  are  not  always  able 
to  resist  the  counsels  of  seeming  expediency  and  ungenerous 
ambition,  although  measures  adopted  under  such  influences 
seldom  fail  to  be  unfortunate  and  injurious  to  those  adopt- 
ing them. 

The  disloyal  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  have 
offered  the  ruin  of  our  country,  in  return  for  the  aid 
and  comfort  which  they  have  invoked  abroad,  have  re- 

199 


200  Life  of  Abrail^m  Lincoln. 

ceived  less  patronage  and  encouragement  than  they  prob- 
ably expected.  If  it  were  just  to  suppose,  as  the  insurgents 
have  seemed  to  assume,  that  foreign  nations,  in  this  case, 
discarding  all  moral,  social  and  treaty  obligations,  would 
act  solely,  and  selfishly,  for  the  most  speedy  restoration  of 
commerce,  including,  especially,  the  acquisitions  of  cotton, 
those  nations  appear,  as  yet,  not  to  have  seen  their  way  to 
their  object,  more  directly,  or  clearly,  through  the  destruc- 
tion than  through  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  If  we 
could  dare  to  believe  that  foreign  nations  are  actuated  by 
no  higher  principle  than  this,  I  am  sure  quite  a  sound  argu- 
ment could  be  made  to  show  them  that  they  can  reach  their 
aim  more  readih'^  and  easily  by  aiding  to  crush  this  rebel- 
lion than  bj'  giving  encouragement  to  it. 

The  princi])al  lever  relied  on  by  the  insurgents  for  excit- 
ing foreign  nations  to  hostility  against  us,  as  already  inti- 
mated, is  the  embarrassment  of  commerce.  Those  nations 
however,  not  improbably,  saw  from  the  first,  that  it  was 
the  Union  which  made,  as  well  our  foreign  as  our  domestic 
commerce.  They  can  scarcely  have  failed  to  perceive  that 
the  effort  for  disunion  produces  the  existing  difficulty;  and 
that  one  strong  nation  promises  more  durable  peace,  and  a 
more  extensive,  valuable  and  reliable  commerce,  than  can 
the  same  nation  broken  into  hostile  fragments. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  review  our  discussions  with  for- 
eign States ;  because  whatever  might  be  their  wishes  or  dis- 
positions, the  integrity  of  our  country  and  the  stabiUty  of 
our  Government  mainly  depend,  not  upon  them,  but  on  the 
loyalty,  virtue,  patriotism,  and  intelhgence  of  the  American 
people.  The  correspondence  itself,  with  the  usual  reserva- 
tions, is  herewith  submitted. 

I  venture  to  hope  that  it  will  apjjear  that  we  have  prac- 
ticed prudence   and    liberality    toward    foreign    powers, 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  201 

averting  causes  of  irritation,  and  with  firmness  maintaining 
our  own  rights  and  honor. 

Since,  however,  it  is  apparent  that  here,  as  in  every  other 
State,  foreign  dangers  necessarily  attend  domestic  diffi- 
culties, I  recommend  that  adequate  and  ample  measures 
be  adopted  for  maintaining  the  pubUc  defenses  on  every 
side.  While,  under  tliis  general  recommendation,  pro- 
vision for  defending  our  sea  coast  line  readily  occurs  to  the 
mind,  I  also,  in  the  same  connection,  ask  the  attention  of 
Congress  to  our  great  lakes  and  [rivers.  It  is  believed 
that  some  fortifications  and  depots  of  arms  and  munitions, 
with  harbor  and  navigation  improvements,  all  at  well 
selected  points  upon  these,  would  be  of  great  importance  to 
the  National  defense  and  preservation.  I  ask  attention  to 
the  views  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  expressed  in  his  report, 
upon  the  same  general  subject. 

I  deem  it  of  importance  that  the  loyal  regions  of  East 
Tennessee  and  Western  North  Carolina  should  be  connected 
with  Kentucky,  and  other  faithful  parts  of  the  Union,  by 
railroad.  I  therefore  recommend,  as  a  military  measure, 
that  Congress  provide  for  the  construction  of  such  road  as 
speedily  as  possible.  Kentucky,  no  doubt,  will  co-operate, 
and,  through  her  Legislature,  make  the  most  judicious 
selection  of  a  line.  The  northern  terminus  must  connect 
with  some  existing  railroad ;  and  whether  the  route  shall  be 
from  Lexington  or  Nicholasville  to  the  Cumberland  Gap,  or 
from  Lebanon  to  the  Tennessee  line,  in  the  direction  of 
Knoxville,  or  on  some  still  different  line,  can  easily  be  de- 
termined. Kentucky  and  the  General  Government  co- 
operating, the  work  can  be  completed  ii'i  a  very  short  time  ; 
and  when  done,  it  will  be  not  only  of  vast  present  usefulness, 
but  also  a  valuable  permanent  improvement,  worth  its  cost 
in  all  the  future. 

Some  treaties,  designed  chiefly  for  the  interests  of  com- 


202  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

merce,  and  having  no  grave  political  importance,  have  been 
negotiated,  and  will  be  submitted  to  the  Senate  for  their 
consideration. 

Although  we  have  failed  to  induce  some  of  the  com- 
mercial powers  to  adopt  a  desirable  melioration  of  the  rigor 
of  maritime  war,  we  have  removed  all  obstructions  from 
the  way  of  this  humane  reform,  except  such  as  are  merely 
of  temporary  and  accidental  occurrence. 

I  invite  your  attention  to  the  correspondence  between 
Her  Britanic  Majesty's  Minister,  accredited  to  this  Govern- 
ment, and  the  Secretary  of  State,  relative  to  the  detention 
of  the  British  ship  Perthshire,  in  June  last,  by  the  United 
States  steamer  Massachusetts,  for  a  supposed  breach  of  the 
blockade.  As  this  detention  was  occasioned  by  an  ob\dous 
misapprehension  of  the  facts,  and  as  justice  requires  that 
we  should  commit  no  belligerent  act  not  founded  in  strict 
right,  as  sanctioned  by  public  law,  I  recommended  that  an 
appropriation  be  made  to  satisfy  the  reasonable  demand  of 
the  owners  of  the  vessel  for  her  detention. 

I  repeat  the  recommendation  of  my  predecessor,  in  his 
annual  message  to  Congress  in  December  last,  in  regard  to 
the  disposition  of  the  surplus  wliich  will  probably  remain 
after  satisfying  the  claims  of  the  American  citizens  against 
China,  pursuant  to  the  awards  of  the  Commissioners  under 
the  act  of  the  3rd  of  March,  1859.  If,  however,  it  should 
not  be  deemed  ailvisable  to  carry  that  recommendation 
into  effect,  I  would  suggest  that  authority  be  given  for 
investing  the  principal,  over  the  proceeds  of  the  surplus 
referred  to,  in  good  securities,  with  a  view  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  such  other  just  claims  of  our  citizens  against  Chma 
as  are  not  unUkely  to  arise  hereafter  in  the  course  of  our 
extensive  trade  with  that  empire. 

By  the  act  of  the  5th  of  August  last,  Congress  authorized 
the  President  to  instruct  the  commanders  of  suitable  vessels 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  203 

to  defend  tlieniselves  against  and  to  capture  pirates.  This 
authority  has  been  exercised  in  a  single  instance  only.  For 
the  more  effectual  protection  of  our  extensive  and  valuable 
commerce,  in  the  Eastern  seas  especially,  it  seems  to  me 
that  it  would  also  be  advisable  to  authorize  the  command- 
ers of  sailing  vessels  to  re-capture  any  prizes  which  pirates 
may  make  of  United  States  vessels  and  their  cargoes,  and 
the  consular  courts,  now  established  by  law  in  Eastern 
countries,  to  adjudicate  the  cases,  in  the  event  that  this 
should  not  be  objected  to  by  the  local  authorities. 

If  any  good  reason  exists  why  we  should  persevere  longer 
in  withholding  our  recognition  of  the  independence  and 
sovereignty  of  Hayti  and  Liberia,  I  am  unable  to  discern  it. 
Unwilling,  however,  to  inaugurate  a  novel  policy  in  regards 
to  them  without  the  approbation  of  Congress,  I  submit  for 
your  consideration  the  expediency  of  an  appropriation  for 
maintaining  a  charge  d'affaires  near  each  of  those  new 
States.  It  does  not  admit  of  doubt  that  important  com- 
mercial advantages  might  be  secured  by  favorable  treaties 
with  them. 

The  operations  of  the  treasury  during  the  period  which 
has  elapsed  since  your  adjournment  have  been  conducted 
with  signal  success.  The  patriotism  of  the  people  has 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Government  the  large  means 
demanded  by  the  public  exigencies.  Much  of  the  National 
loan  has  been  taken  by  citizens  of  the  industrial  classes, 
whose  confidence  in  their  country's  faith  and  zeal  for 
their  country's  deliverance  from  present  peril,  have  in- 
duced them  to  contribute  to  the  support  of  the  Govern- 
ment, the  whole  of  their  limited  acquisitions.  This  fact 
imposes  peculiar  obligations  to  economy  in  disbursement 
and  energy  in  action. 

The  revenue  from  all  sources,  including  loans,  for  the 
financial  year  ending  on  the  30th  of  June,  1861,  was  eighty- 


204  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

six  million  eight  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand  nine 
hundred  dollars  and  twenty-seven  cents,  and  the  expendi- 
tures for  the  same  period,  including  payments  on  account  of 
the  public  debt,  were  eighty-four  million  five  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-four 
dollars  and  forty-seven  cents;  leaving  a  balance  in  the 
treasury  on  the  1st  of  July  of  two  million  two  hundred  and 
fifty-seven  thousand  sixty-five  dollars  and  eighty  cents. 
For  the  first  quarter  of  the  financial  year,  ending  on  the 
30th  of  September,  1861,  the  receipts  from  all  sources,  in- 
cluding the  balance  of  the  1st  of  July,  were  one  hundred 
and  two  million  five  hundred  and  thirty-two  thousand  five 
hundred  and  nine  dollars  and  twenty-seven  cents,  and  the 
expenses  ninety-eight  million  two  hundred  and  thirty-nine 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty-three  dollars  and  nine 
cents;  leaving  a  balance  on  the  1st  of  October,  1861, of  four 
million  two  hundred  and  ninety-two  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  seventy-six  dollars  and  eighteen  cents. 

Estimates  for  the  remaining  three  quarters  of  the  year, 
and  for  the  financial  year  1863,  together  with  his  views  of 
ways  and  means  for  meeting  the  demands  contemplated  by 
them,  will  be  submitted  to  Congress  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  the  expenditures 
made  necessary  by  the  rebellion  are  not  beyond  the  re- 
sources of  the  loyal  people,  and  to  believe  that  the  same 
patriotism  which  has  thus  far  sustained  the  Government 
will  continue  to  sustain  it  till  peace  and  Union  again  shall 
bless  the  land. 

I  respectfully  refer  to  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  War 
for  information  respecting  the  numerical  strength  of  the 
Army,  and  for  recommendations  having  in  view  an  increase 
of  its  efSciency  and  the  well  being  of  the  various  branches 
of  the  service  intrusted  to  his  care.  It  is  gratifying  to 
know  that  the  patriotism  of  the  people  has  proved  equal  to 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  205 

the  occasion,  and  that  the  number  of  troops  tendered 
greatly  exceeds  the  force  which  Congress  authorized  me  to 
call  into  the  field. 

I  refer  with  pleasure  to  those  portions  of  his  report  which 
make  allusion  to  the  creditable  degree  of  discipline  already 
attained  by  our  troops,  and  to  the  excellent  sanitary  con- 
dition of  the  entire  army. 

The  recommendation  of  the  Secretary  for  an  organiza- 
tion of  the  militia  upon  a  uniform  basis  is  a  subject  of  vital 
importance  to  the  future  safety  of  the  country,  and  is  com- 
mended to  the  serious  attention  of  Congress. 

The  large  addition  to  the  regular  army,  in  connection 
with  the  defection  that  has  so  considerably  diminished  the 
number  of  its  officers,  gives  peculiar  importance  to  his 
recommendation  for  increasing  the  corps  of  cadets  to  the 
greatest  capacit}'  of  the  Military  Academy. 

By  mere  omission,  I  presume,  Congress  has  failed  to  pro- 
vide chaplains  for  hospitals  occupied  by  volunteers.  This 
subject  was  brought  to  my  notice,  and  I  was  induced  to 
draw  up  the  form  of  a  letter,  one  copy  of  which,  properly 
afldressed,  has  been  delivered  to  each  of  the  persons,  and  at 
the  dates  respectively  named  and  stated,  in  a  schedule, 
containing  also  the  form  of  the  letter,  marked  A,  and  here- 
with transmitted. 

These  gentlemen,  I  understand,  entered  upon  the  duties 
designated,  at  the  times  respectively  stated  in  the  scheduled 
and  have  labored  faithfully  therein  ever  since.  I  therefore 
recommend  that  they  be  compensated  at  the  same  rate  as 
chaplains  in  the  army.  I  further  suggest  that  general  pro- 
vision be  made  for  chaplains  to  serve  at  hospitals,  as  well 
as  with  regiments. 

The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  presents  in 
detail  the  operations  of  that  branch  of  the  service,  the 
activity  and  energy  which  have  characterized  its  adminis- 


206  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

tration,  and  the  results  of  measures  to  increase  its  efficiency 
and  power.  Such  have  been  the  additions,  by  constniction 
and  purchase,  that  it  may  ahnost  be  said  a  navy  has  bee  n 
created  and  brought  into  service  since  our  difficulties  com- 
menced. 

Besides  blockading  our  extensive  coast,  squadrons  larger 
than  ever  before  assembled  under  our  flag  have  been  put 
afloat,  and  performed  deeds  which  have  increased  our  naval 
renown. 

I  would  invite  special  attention  to  the  recommendation 
of  the  Secretary  for  a  mort  perfect  organization  of  the  Navy 
by  introducing  additional  grades  in  the  service. 

The  present  organization  is  defective  and  unsatisfact  ory 
and  the  suggestions  submitted  by  the  Department  vnW,  it  is 
beUeved,  if  adopted,  obviate  the  difficulties  alluded  to,  pro- 
mote harmony,  and  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  navy. 

There  are  three  vacancies  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court — two  by  the  decease  of  Justices  Daniel  and  McLean, 
and  one  by  the  resignation  of  Justice  Campbell.  I  have  so 
far  forborne  making  nominations  to  fill  these  vacancies  for 
reasons  which  I  will  now  state.  Two  of  the  outgoing 
judges  resided  ^v•ithin  the  States  now  overrun  by  revolt;  so 
that  if  successors  were  appointed  in  the  same  localities, 
they  could  not  now  serve  upon  their  circuits;  and  many  of 
the  most  competent  men  there  probably  would  not  take  the 
personal  hazard  of  accepting  to  serve,  even  here,  upon  the 
Supreme  Bench.  I  have  been  unwilling  to  throw  all  the 
appointments  northward,  thus  disabling  myself  from  doing 
justice  to  the  South  on  the  return  of  peace;  although 
I  may  remark  that  to  transfer  to  the  North  one  which  has 
heretofore  been  in  the  South  would  not,  with  reference  to 
to  territory  and  population,  be  unjust. 

During  the  long  and  brilliant  judicial  career  of  Judge 
McLean  his  circuit  grew  into  an  empire — altogether  too 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


207 


large  for  any  one  judge  to  give  the  courts  therein  more  than 
a  nominal  attendance — rising  in  population  from  one  mil- 
lion four  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  and  eighteen,  in 
1830,  to  six  million  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  thousand 
four  hundred  and  five  in  1860. 

Besides  this,  the  country  generally  has  outgrown  our 
present  judicial  system.  If  uniformity  was  at  all  intended, 
the  system  requires  that  all  the  States  shall  be  accommo- 
dated with  circuit  courts,  attended  by  supreme  judges, 
while,  in  fact,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Iowa,  Kansas, 
Florida,  Texas,  California  and  Oregon,  have  never  had  any 
such  courts.  Nor  can  this  well  be  remedied  without  a 
change  in  the  system;  because  the  adding  of  judges  to  the 
Supreme  Court,  enough  for  the  accommodation  of  all  parts 
of  the  country,  with  circuit  courts,  would  create  a  court 
altogether  too  numerous  for  a  judicial  body  of  any  sort. 
And  the  evil,  if  it  be  one,  will  increase  as  new  States  come 
into  the  Union.  Circuit  courts  are  useful,  or  they  are  not 
useful;  if  useful,  no  State  should  be  denied  them;  if  not 
useful,  no  State  should  have  them.  Let  them  be  provided 
for  all,  or  abolished  as  to  all. 

Three  modifications  occur  to  me,  either  of  which,  I  think, 
would  be  an  improvement  upon  our  present  system.  Let 
the  Supreme  Court  be  of  convenient  number  in  every  event. 
Then,  first,  let  the  whole  country  be  divided  into  circuits  of 
convenient  size,  the  supreme  judges  to  serve  in  a  number  of 
them  corresponding  to  their  own  number,  and  independ 
ent  circuit  judges  be  provided  for  all  the  rest.  Or, 
secondly,  let  the  supreme  judges  be  relieved  from  circuit 
duties,  and  circuit  judges  provided  for  all  the  circuits.  Or, 
thirdly,  dispense  with  circuit  courts  altogether,  leaving  the 
judicial  fimctions  wholly  to  the  district  courts,  and  an  inde- 
pendent Supreme  Court. 

I  respectfully  recommend  to  the  consideration  of  Congress 


208  Life   of  Abraham   Lincoln. 

the  present  condition  of  the  statute  laws,  with  the  hope  that 
Congress  will  be  able  to  find  an  easy  remedy  for  many  of  the 
inconveniences  and  evils  which  constantly  embarrass  those 
engaged  in  the  practical  administration  of  them.  Since  the 
organization  of  the  Government,  Congress  has  enacted 
some  five  thousand  acts  and  joint  resolutions,  which  fill 
more  than  six  thousand  closely  printed  pages,  and  are 
scattered  through  many  volumes.  Many  of  these  acts 
have  been  drawn  in  haste  and  without  sufficient  caution, 
so  that  their  provisions  are  often  obscure  in  themselves,  or 
in  conflict  with  each  other,  or  at  least  so  doubtful  as  to 
render  it  very  difficult  for  even  the  best  informed  persons 
to  ascertain  precisely  what  the  statute  law  really  is. 

It  seems  to  me  very  important  that  the  statute  laws 
should  be  made  as  plain  and  intelligible  as  possible,  and  be 
reduced  to  so  small  a  compass  as  may  consist  with  the  full- 
ness and  precision  of  the  will  of  the  legislature  and  the  per- 
spicuity of  its  language.  This,  well  done,  would,  I  think, 
greatly  facilitate  the  labors  of  those  whose  duty  it  is  to 
assist  in  the  administration  of  the  laws,  and  would  be  a 
lasting  benefit  to  the  people,  by  placing  before  them,  in  a 
more  accessible  and  intelligible  form,  the  laws  which  so 
deeply  concern  their  interests  and  their  duties. 

I  am  informed  by  some  whose  opinions  I  respect,  that  all 
the  acts  of  Congress  now  in  force,  and  of  a  permanent  and 
general  nature,  might  be  revised  and  reA\Titten,  so  as  to 
be  embraced  in  one  volume  (or,  at  most,  two  volumes),  of 
ordinary  and  convenient  size.  And  I  respectfully  recom- 
mend to  Congress  to  consider  of  the  subject,  and,  if  my 
suggestion  be  approved,  to  devise  such  plan  as  to  their  wis- 
dom shall  seem  most  proper  for  the  attainment  of  the  end 
proposed. 

One  of  the  unavoidable  consequences  of  the  present 
insurrection  is  the  entire  suppression,  in  many  places,  of  all 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  209 

the  ordinary  means  of  administering  civil  justice  by  the 
ofRcers  and  in  the  forms  of  existing  law.  This  is  the  case, 
in  whole  or  in  part,  in  all  the  insurgent  States;  and  as  our 
armies  advance  upon  and  take  possession  of  parts  of  those 
States,  the  practical  evil  becomes  more  apparent.  There 
are  no  courts  nor  officers  to  whom  the  citizens  of  other 
States  may  apply  for  the  enforcement  of  their  lawful  claims 
against  citizens  of  the  insurgent  States ;  and  there  is  a  vast 
amount  of  debt  constituting  such  claims.  Some  have 
estimated  it  as  high  as  two  hundred  million  dollars,  due,  in 
large  part,  from  insurgents,  in  open  rebellion,  to  loyal 
citizens,  who  are,  even  now,  making  great  sacrifices,  in  the 
discharge  of  their  patriotic  duty,  to  support  the  Govern- 
ment. 

Under  these  circumstances,  I  have  been  urgently  solicited 
to  establish,  by  military  power,  courts  to  administer  sum- 
mary justice  in  such  cases.  I  have  thus  far  declined  to  do 
it,  not  because  I  had  any  doubt  that  the  end  proposed — the 
collection  of  the  debts — was  just  and  right  in  itself,  but  be- 
cause I  have  been  unwilling  to  go  beyond  the  pressure  of 
necessity  in  the  unusual  exercise  of  power.  But  the 
powers  of  Congress,  I  suppose,  are  equal  to  the  anomalous 
occasion,  and  therefore  I  refer  the  whole  matter  to  Congress, 
with  the  hope  that  a  plan  may  be  devised  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice  in  all  such  parts  of  the  insurgent  States 
and  Territories  as  may  be  under  the  control  of  this  Govern- 
ment, whether  by  a  voluntary  return  to  allegiance  and 
order,  or  by  the  power  of  our  arms.  This,  however,  not  to 
be  a  permanent  institution,  but  a  temporary  substitute, 
and  to  cease  as  soon  as  the  ordinary  courts  can  be  re- 
established in  peace. 

It  is  important  that  some  more  convenient  means  should 
be  provided,  if  possible,  for  the  adjustment  of  claims  against 
the  Government,  especially  in  view  of  their  increased  num- 


210  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

ber  by  reason  of  the  war.  It  is  as  much  the  duty  of  Gov- 
ernments  to  render  prompt  justice  against  itself,  in  favor 
of  citizens,  as  it  is  to  administer  the  same  between  private 
individuals.  The  investigation  and  adjudication  of  claims, 
in  their  nature,  belong  to  the  judicial  department;  besides, 
it  is  apparent  that  the  attention  of  Congress  will  be  more 
than  usually  engaged  for  some  time  to  come  with  great 
national  questions.  It  was  intended,  by  the  organization 
of  the  Court  of  Claims,  mainly  to  remove  this  branch  of 
business  from  the  halls  of  Congress;  but  while  the  court 
has  proved  to  be  an  effective  and  valuable  means  of  investi- 
gation, it  in  a  great  degree  fails  to  effect  the  object  of  its 
creation  for  want  of  power  to  make  its  judgments  final. 

Fully  aware  of  the  delicacy,  not  to  say  the  danger,  of  the 
subject,  I  commend  to  your  careful  consideration  whether 
this  power  of  making  judgments  final  may  not  properly  be 
given  to  the  court,  reserving  the  right  of  appeal  on  ques- 
tions of  law  to  the  Supreme  Court,  with  such  other  pro- 
visions as  experience  may  have  shown  to  be  necessary. 

I  ask  attention  to  the  report  of  the  Postmaster  General, 
the  following  being  a  summary  statement  of  the  condition 
of  the  department : 

The  revenue  from  all  sources  during  the  fiscal  year  ending 
June  30,  1861,  including  the  annual  permanent  appropria- 
tion of  seven  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the  transporta- 
tion of  "free  mail  matter,"  was  nine  million  forty-nine 
thousand  two  himdred  and  ninety-six  dollars  and  forty 
cents,  being  about  two  per  cent,  less  than  the  revenue  for 
1860. 

The  expenditures  were  thirteen  million  six  hundred  and 
six  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-nine  dollars  and  elev- 
en cents,  showing  a  decrease  of  more  than  eight  per  cent, 
as  compared  with  those  of  the  previous  year,  and  leaving 
an  excess  of  expenditure  over  the  revenue  for  the  last  fiscal 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


211 


year  of  four  million  five  hundred  and  fifty-seven  thousand 
four  hundred  and  sixty-two  dollars  and  seventy-one  cents. 

The  gross  revenue  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1863,  is 
estimated  at  an  increase  of  four  per  cent,  on  that  of  1861, 
making  eight  million  six  hundred  and  eighty-three  thou- 
sand dollars,  to  which  should  be  added  the  earnings  of  the 
department  in  carrying  free  matter,  viz:  seven  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  making  nine  million  three  hundred  and 
eighty-three  thousand  dollars. 

The  total  expenditures  for  1863  are  estimated  at  twelve 
million  five  hundred  and  twenty-eight  thousand  dollars, 
leaving  an  estimated  deficiency  of  three  million  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-five  thousand  dollars  to  be  supplied  from 
the  treasury,  in  addition  to  the  permanent  appropriation. 

The  present  insurrection  shows,  I  think,  that  the  exten- 
sion of  this  District  across  the  Potomac  river,  at  the  time 
of  establishing  the  capital  here,  was  eminently  wise,  and 
consequently  that  the  relinquishment  of  that  portion  of  it, 
which  lies  within  the  State  of  Virginia,  was  unwise  and  dan- 
gerous. I  submit  for  your  consideration  the  expediency 
of  regaining  that  part  of  the  District,  and  the  restoration 
of  the  original  boundaries  thereof,  through  negotiations 
with  the  State  of  Virginia. 

The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  with  the  ac- 
companying documents,  exhibits  the  condition  of  the  sev- 
eral branches  of  the  public  business  pertaining  to  that  de- 
partment. The  depressing  influences  of  the  insurrection 
have  been  specially  felt  in  the  operations  of  the  Patent 
and  General  Land  Offices.  The  cash  receipts  from  the 
sales  of  public  lands  chn-ing  the  past  year  have  exceeded  the 
expenses  of  our  land  system  only  about  two  hundrerl  thou- 
sand dollars.  The  sales  have  been  entirely  suspended  in- 
the  Southern  States,  while  the  interruptions  to  the  busi- 
ness of  the  country,  and  the  diversions  of  large  numbers 


212  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

of  men  from  labor  to  military  ser\ace,  have  obstructed 
settlements  in  the  new  States  and  Territories  of  the  North- 
west. 

The  receipts  of  the  Patent  Office  have  dechned  in  nine 
months  about  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  rendering  a 
large  reduction  of  the  force  employed  necessary  to  make  it 
self-sustaining. 

The  demands  upon  the  Pension  Office  will  be  largely  in- 
creased by  the  insurrection.  Numerous  applications  for 
pensions,  based  upon  the  casualties  of  the  existing  war, 
have  already  been  made.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that 
many  who  are  now  upon  the  pension  rolls,  and  in  receipt  of 
the  bounty  of  the  Government,  are  in  the  ranks  of  the 
insurgent  army,  or  giving  them  aid  and  comfort.  The 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  has  directed  a  suspension  of  the 
payment  of  the  pensions  of  such  persons  upon  the  proof  of 
their  disloyalty.  I  recommend  that  Congress  authorize 
that  officer  to  cause  the  names  of  such  persons  to  be 
stricken  from  the  pension  rolls. 

The  ralations  of  the  Government  with  the  Indian  tribes 
have  been  greatly  disturbed  by  the  insurrection,  especially 
in  the  Southern  Superintendency  and  in  that  of  New  Mex- 
ico. The  Indian  country  south  of  Kansas  is  in  the  posses- 
sion of  insurgents  from  Texas  and  Arkansas.  The  agents 
of  the  United  States  appointed  since  the  4th  of  March  for 
tliis  superintendency  have  been  unable  to  reach  their  posts, 
while  the  most  of  those  who  were  in  office  before  that  time 
have  espoused  the  insurrectionary  cause,  and  assume  to 
exercise  the  powers  of  agents  by  virtue  of  commissions 
from  the  insurrectionists.  It  has  been  stated  in  the  public 
press  that  a  portion  of  those  Indians  had  been  organized  as 
a  military  force,  and  are  attached  to  the  army  of  the 
insurgents.  Although  the  Government  has  no  official 
information  upon  this  subject,  letters  have  been  written  to 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  213 

the  Commissioner  of  Indian  affairs  by  several  prominent 
chiefs,  giving  assurance  [of  their  lo3^alty  to  the  United  States, 
and  expressing  a  wish  for  the  presence  of  Federal  troops  to 
protect  them.  It  is  believed  that  upon  the  repossession  of 
the  country  by  the  Federal  forces  the  Indians  will  readily 
cease  all  hostile  demonstrations,  and  resume  their  former 
relations  to  the  Government. 

Agriculture,  confessedly  the  largest  interest  of  the  nation, 
has  not  a  department,  nor  a  bureau,  but  a  clerkship  only, 
assigned  to  it  in  the  Government.  While  it  is  fortunate 
that  this  great  interest  is  so  independent  in  its  nature  as  to 
not  have  demanded  and  extorted  more  from  the  Govern- 
ment, I  respectfully  ask  Congress  to  consider  whether 
something  more  cannot  be  given  voluntarily  with  general 
advantage. 

Annual  reports  exhibiting  the  condition  of  our  agricul- 
ture, commerce  and  manufactures,  will  present  a  fund  of 
information  of  great  practical  value  to  the  country.  While 
I  make  no  suggestion  as  to  details,  I  venture  the  opinion 
that  an  agricultural  and  statistical  bureau  might  profitably 
be  organized. 

The  execution  of  the  laws  for  the  suppression  of  the  Afri- 
can slave  trade  has  been  confided  to  the  Department  of  the 
Interior.  It  is  a  subject  of  gratulation  that  the  efforts  which 
have  been  made  for  the  suppression  of  this  inhuman  traffic 
have  been  recently  attended  with  unusual  success.  Five 
vessels  being  fitted  out  for  the  slave  trade  have  been  seized 
and  condemned.  Two  mates  of  vessels  engaged  in  the 
trade,  and  one  person  in  equipping  a  vessel  as  a  slaver,  have 
been  convicted  and  subjected  to  the  penalty  of  fine  and 
imprisonment,  and  one  captain,  taken  with  a  cargo  of 
Africans  on  board  his  vessel,  has  been  convicted  of  the 
highest  grade  of  offense  under  our  laws,  the  punishment  of 
which  is  death. 


214  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

The  Territories  of  Colorado,  Dakota,  and  Nevada-, 
created  by  the  last  Congress,  have  been  organized,  and 
civil  administration  has  been  inaugiirated  therein  under 
auspices  especially  gratifying,  when  it  is  considered  that  the 
leaven  of  treason  was  found  existing  in  some  of  these  new 
countries  when  the  Federal  officers  arrived  there. 

The  abundant  natural  resources  of  these  Territories,  with 
the  security  and  protection  afforded  by  organized  govern- 
ment, will  doubtless  invite  to  them  a  large  immigration 
when  peace  shall  restore  the  business  of  the  country  to  its 
accustomed  channels.  I  submit  the  resolutions  of  the 
Legislature  of  Colorado,  which  evidence  the  patriotic  spirit 
of  the  people  of  the  Territory.  So  far,  the  authority  of  the 
United  States  has  been  upheld  in  all  the  Territories,  as  it  is 
hoped  it  will  be  in  the  future.  T  commend  their  interests 
and  defense  to  the  enhghtened  and  generous  care  of  Con- 
gress. 

I  recommend  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  Congress 
the  interests  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  insurrection 
has  been  the  cause  of  much  suffering  and  sacrifice  to  its 
inhabitants,  and  as  they  have  no  representative  in  Con- 
gress, that  body  should  not  overlook  their  just  claims  upon 
the  Government. 

At  your  late  session  a  joint  resolution  was  adopted 
authorizing  the  President  to  take  measures  for  facilitating 
a  proper  representation  of  the  industrial  interests  of  the 
United  States  at  the  exhibition  of  the  industry  of  all  na- 
tions, to  be  holden  at  London  in  the  year  1862.  I  regret 
to  say  that  I  have  been  unable  to  give  personal  attention  to 
this  subject — a  subject  at  once  so  interesting  in  itself,  and 
so  extensively  and  intimately  connected  with  the  material 
prosperity  of  the  world.  Through  the  Secretaries  of  State 
and  of  the  Interior  a  plan,  or  system,  has  been  devised,  and 
partly  matured,  and  which  will  be  laid  before  you. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  215 

Under  and  by  virtue  of  the  act  of  Congress  entitled  "  An 
act  to  confiscate  property  used  for  insurrectionary  pur- 
poses, "  approved  August  6,  1861,  the  legal  claims  of  cer- 
tain persons  to  the  labor  and  service  of  certain  other  persons 
have  become  forfeited;  and  numbers  of  the  latter,  thus 
liberated,  are  already  dependent  on  the  United  States,  and 
must  be  provided  for  in  some  way.  Besides  this,  it  is 
not  impossible  that  some  of  the  States  will  pass  similar 
enactments  for  their  own  benefit  respectively,  and  by 
operations  of  which  persons  of  the  same  class  will  be  thrown 
upon  them  for  disposal.  In  such  case  I  recommend  that 
Congress  provide  for  accepting  such  persons  from  such 
States  according  to  some  mode  of  valuation,  in  lieu,  pro 
tanto,  of  direct  taxes,  or  upon  some  other  plan  to  be  agreed 
on  with  such  States,  respectively ;  that  such  persons,  on  such 
acceptance  by  the  General  Government,  be  at  once 
deemed  free;  and  that,  in  any  event,  steps  be  taken  for 
colonizing  both  classes  (or  the  one  first  mentioned,  if  the 
other  shall  not  be  brought  into  existence)  at  some  place  or 
places  in  a  climate  congenial  to  them.  It  might  be  well  to 
consider,  too,  whether  the  free  colored  people  already  in  the 
United  States  could  not,  so  far  as  individuals  may  desire, 
be  included  in  such  colonization. 

To  carry  out  the  plan  of  colonization  may  involve  the 
acquiring  of  territory,  and  also  the  appropriation  of  money 
beyond  that  to  be  expended  in  the  territorial  acquisition. 
Having  practiced  the  acquisition  of  territory  for  nearly 
sixty  years,  the  question  of  constitutional  power  to  do  so 
is  no  longer  an  open  one  with  us.  The  power  was  ques- 
tioned at  first  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  who,  however,  in  the  pur- 
chase of  Louisiana,  yielded  his  scruples  on  the  plea  of  great 
expediency.  If  it  be  said  that  the  only  legitimate  object 
of  acquiring  territory  is  to  furnish  homes  for  white  men, 
this  measure  effects  that  object,  for  the  emigration  of  col- 


216  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

ored  men  leaves  additional  room  for  wliite  men  remaining 
or  coming  here.  Mr.  Jefferson,  however,  placed  the  im- 
portance of  procuring  Louisiana  more  on  political  and  com- 
mercial grounds  than  on  providing  room  for  population. 

On  this  whole  proposition,  including  the  appropriation  of 
money  with  the  acquisition  of  territory,  does  not  the  ex- 
pediency amount  to  absolute  necessity^that  without 
which  the  Government  itself  cannot  be  perpetuated? 

The  war  continues.  In  considering  the  policy  to  be 
adopted  for  suppressing  the  insurrection,  I  have  been 
anxious  and  careful  that  the  inevitable  conflict  for  this 
purpose  shall  not  degenerate  into  a  violent  and  remorseless 
revolutionary  struggle.  I  have,  therefore,  in  every  case 
thought  it  proper  to  keep  the  integrity  of  the  Union  prom- 
inent as  the  primary  object  of  the  contest  on  our  part,  leav- 
ing all  questions  which  are  not  of  vital  military  importance 
to  the  more  deliberate  action  of  the  legislature. 

In  the  exercise  of  my  best  discretion,  I  have  adhered  to 
the  blockade  of  the  ports  held  by  the  insurgents,  instead  of 
putting  in  force,  by  proclamation,  the  law  of  Congress 
enacted  at  the  late  session  for  closing  those  ports. 

So,  also,  obeying  the  dictates  of  prudence,  as  well  as  the 
obligations  of  law,  instead  of  transcending,  I  have  adhered 
to  the  act  of  Congress  to  confiscate  property  used  for  insur- 
rectionary purposes.  If  a  new  law  upon  the  same  subject 
shall  be  proposed,  its  propriety  will  be  duly  considered. 
The  Union  must  be  preserved;  and  hence  all  indispensable 
means  must  be  employed.  We  should  not  be  in  haste  to 
determine  that  radical  and  extreme  measures,  which  may 
reach  the  loyal  as  well  as  the  disloyal,  are  indispensable. 

The  inaugural  address  at  the  begimiing  of  the  adminis- 
tration, and  the  message  to  Congress  at  the  late  special 
session,  were  both  mainly  devoted  to  the  domestic  con- 
troversy out  of  which  the  insurrection  and  consequent  war 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  217 

have  sprung.  Nothing  now  occurs  to  add  or  subtract  to  or 
from  the  principles  or  general  purposes  stated  and  ex- 
pressed in  those  documents. 

The  last  ray  of  hope  for  preserving  the  tJnion  peaceably 
expired  at  the  assault  upon  Fort  Sumpter;  and  a  general 
review  of  what  has  occurred  since  may  not  be  unprofitable. 
What  was  painfully  uncertain  then  is  much  better  defined 
and  more  distinct  now;  and  the  progress  of  events  is 
plainly  in  the  right  direction.  The  insurgents  confidently 
claim  a  strong  support  from  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's 
line,  and  the  friends  of  the  Union  were  not  free  from  ap- 
prehension on  the  point.  This,  however,  was  soon  settled 
definitely,  and  on  the  right  side.  South  of  the  line,  noble 
little  Delaware  led  off  right  from  the  first.  Maryland  was 
made  to  seem  against  the  Union.  Our  soldiers  were  as- 
saulted, bridges  were  burned,  and  railroads  torn  up  within 
her  limits,  and  we  were  many  days,  at  one  time,  without 
the  ability  to  bring  a  single  regiment  over  her  soil  to  the 
capital.  Now  her  bridges  and  railroads  are  repaired  and 
open  to  the  Government;  she  already  gives  seven  regi- 
ments to  the  cause  of  the  Union  and  none  to  the  enemy; 
and  her  people,  at  a  regular  election,  have  sustained  the 
Union  by  a  larger  majority  and  a  larger  aggregate  vote  than 
they  ever  before  gave  to  any  candidate  or  any  question. 
Kentucky,  too,  for  some  time  in  doubt,  is  now  decidedly, 
and,  I  think,  unchangeably,  ranged  on  the  side  of  the 
Union.  Missouri  is  comparatively  quiet,  and  I  believe 
cannot  again  be  overrun  by  the  insurrectionists.  These 
three  States  of  Maryland,  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  neither 
of  which  would  promise  a  single  soldier  at  first,  have  now  an 
aggregate  of  not  less 'than  forty  thousand  in  the  field  for 
the  Union ;  while  of  their  citizens  certainly  not  more  than  a 
third  of  that  number,  and  they  of  doubtful  whereabouts 
and  doubtful  existence,  are  in  arms  against  it.     After  a 


218  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

somewhat  bloody  struggle  of  months,  winter  closes  on  the 
Union  people  of  Western  Virginia,  leaving  them  masters  of 
their  own  country. 

An  insurgent  force  of  about  fifteen  hundred,  for  months 
dominating  the  narrow  peninsular  region,  constituting  the 
counties  of  Accomac,  and  Northampton,  and  known  as  the 
eastern  shore  of  Virginia,  together  with  some  contiguous 
parts  of  Maryland,  have  laid  down  their  arms;  and  the 
people  there  have  renewed  their  allegiance  to,  and  accepted 
the  protection  of,  the  old  flag.  This  leaves  no  armed  in- 
surrectionist north  of  the  Potomac  or  east  of  the  Chesa- 
peake. 

Also  we  have  obtained  a  footing  at  each  of  the  isolated 
points,  on  the  southern  coast,  of  Hatteras,  Port  Royal, 
Tybee  Island,  near  Savannah,  and  Ship  Island;  and  we 
likewise  have  some  general  accounts  of  popular  movements, 
in  behalf  of  the  Union,  in  North  Carolina  and  Tennessee. 

These  things  demonstrate  that  the  cause  of  the  Union  is 
advancing  steadily  and  certainly  southward. 

Since  your  last  adjournment,  Lieutenant  General  Scott 
has  retired  from  the  head  of  the  army.  During  his  long 
life,  the  nation  has  not  been  unmindful  of  his  merit;  yet,  on 
calling  to  mind  how  faithfully,  ably  and  brilliantly  he  has 
served  the  country,  from  a  time  far  back  in  our  history, 
when  few  of  the  now  living  had  been  born,  and  thence- 
forward continually,  I  cannot  but  think  we  are  still  his 
debtors.  I  submit,  therefore,  for  your  consideration,  what 
further  mark  of  recognition  is  due  to  him,  and  to  ourselves, 
as  a  grateful  people. 

With  the  retirement  of  General  Scott  came  the  Executive 
duty  of  appointing,  in  his  stead,  a  General-in-chief  of  the 
army.  It  is  a  fortunate  circumstance  that  neither  in 
council  nor  country  was  there,  so  fkr  as  I  know,  any  differ- 
ence of  opinion  as  to  the  proper  person  to  be  selected.    The 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  219 

retiring  chief  repeatedly  expressed  his  judgment  in  favor 
of  General  McClellan  for  the  position  and  in  this  the  nation 
seemed  to  give  a  unanimous  concurrence.  The  designation 
of  General  McClellan  is,  therefore,  in  considerable  degree, 
the  selection  of  the  country  as  well  as  of  the  Executive; 
and  hence  there  is  better  reason  to  hope  there  will  be  given 
him  the  confidence  and  cordial  support  thus,  by  fair  impli- 
cation, promised,  and  without  which  he  can  not,  with  so 
full  efficiency,  serve  the  country. 

It  has  been  said  that  one  bad  general  is  better  than  two 
good  ones;  and  the  saying  is  true,  if  taken  to  mean  no 
more  than  that  an  army  is  better  directed  by  a  single 
mind,  though  inferior,  than  by  two  superior  ones  at  vari- 
ance and  cross-purposes  with  each  other. 

And  the  same  is  true  in  all  joint  operations  wherein  those 
engaged  can  have  none  but  a  common  end  in  view,  and  can 
differ  only  as  to  the  choice  of  means.  In  a  storm  at  sea,  no 
one  on  board  can  wish  the  ship  to  sink,  and  yet,  not  unfre- 
quently,  all  go  dowii  together  because  too  many  will  direct 
and  no  single  mind  can  be  allowed  to  control. 

It  continues  to  develop  that  the  insurrection  is  largely,  if 
not  exclusively,  a  war  upon  the  first  principle  of  popular 
government — the  rights  of  the  people.  Conclusive  evi- 
dence of  this  is  found  in  the  most  grave  and  maturely- 
considered  public  document,  as  well  as  in  the  general  tone 
of  the  insurgents.  In  those  documents  we  find  the  abridge- 
ment of  the  existing  right  of  suffrage  and  the  denial  to  the 
people  of  all  right  to  participate  in  the  selection  of  public 
officers,  except  the  legislative,  boldly  advocated,  with 
labored  arguments  to  prove  that  large  control  of  the  people 
in  government  is  the  source  of  all  political  evil.  Monarchy 
itself  is  sometimes  hinted  at  as  a  possible  refuge  from  the 
power  of  the  people. 

In  my  present  position  I  could  scarcely  be  justified  were  I 


220  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

to  omit  raising  a  warning  voice  against  this  approach  of  re- 
turning despotism. 

It  is  not  needed  nor  fitting  here  that  a  general  argument 
should  be  made  in  favor  of  popular  institutions ;  but  there 
is  one  point,  with  its  connections,  not  so  hackneyed  as  most 
others,  to  which  I  ask  a  brief  attention.  It  is  the  effort 
to  place  capital  on  an  equal  footing  with,  if  not  above  labor, 
in  the  structure  of  government.  It  is  assumed  that  labor  is 
available  only  in  comiection  with  capital — that  nobody 
labors  imless  somebody  else,  owning  capital,  somehow  by 
the  use  of  it  induces  him  to  labor.  This  assumed,  it  is  next 
considered  whether  it  is  best  that  capital  shall  hire  laborers 
and  thus  induce  them  to  work  by  their  own  consent,  or  buy 
them,  and  drive  them  to  it  without  their  consent.  Having 
proceeded  so  far,  it  is  naturally  concluded,  that  all  laborers 
are  either  hired  laborers,  or  what  we  call  slaves.  And 
further,  it  is  assumed  that  whoever  is  once  a  hired  laborer 
is  fixed  in  that  condition  for  life. 

Now,  there  is  no  such  relation  between  capital  and  labor 
as  assumed;  nor  is  there  any  such  thing  as  a  free  man  being 
fixed  for  life  in  the  condition  of  a  hired  laborer.  Both 
these  assumptions  are  false,  and  all  inferences  from  them 
are  groundless. 

Labor  is  prior  to  and  independent  of  capital.  Capital  is 
only  the  fruit  of  labor,  and  could  never  have  existed  if 
labor  had  not  first  existed.  Labor  is  the  superior  of  capital, 
and  deserves  much  the  higher  consideration.  Capital  has 
its  rights,  which  are  as  worthy  of  protection  as  any  other 
rights.  Nor  is  it  denied  that  there  is,  and  probably  always 
will  be,  a  relation  between  labor  and  capital  producing 
mutual  benefits.  The  error  is  in  assuming  that  the  whole 
labor  of  a  community  exists  within  that  relation.  A  few 
men  own  capital,  and  that  few  avoid  labor  themselves,  and 
with  their  capital  hire  or  buy  another  few  to  labor  for  them. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  221 

A  large  majority  belong  to  neither  class — neither  work  for 
others  nor  have  others  working  for  them.  In  most  of  the 
Southern  States  a  majority  of  the  whole  people,  of  all 
colors,  are  neither  slaves  nor  masters,  while  in  the  Northern 
a  large  majority  are  neither  hirers  nor  hired.  Men,  with 
their  families — wives,  sons  and  daughters — work  for  them- 
selves, on  their  farms,  in  their  houses,  and  in  their  shops, 
taking  the  whole  product  to  themselves,  and  asking  no 
favors  of  capital,  on  the  one  hand,  nor  of  hired  laborers  or 
slaves  on  the  other.  It  is  not  forgotten  that  a  considerable 
number  of  persons  mingle  their  own  labor  with  capital — 
that  is,  they  labor  with  their  own  hands,  and  also  buy  or 
hire  others  to  labor  for  them;  but  this  is  only  a  mixed,  and 
not  a  distinct  class.  No  principle  stated  is  disturbed  by 
the  existence  of  this  mixed  class. 

Again,  as  has  already  been  said,_there  is  not,  of  necessity, 
any  such  thing  as  the  free  hired  laborer  being  fixed  to  that 
condition  for  life.  Many  independent  men  everywhere  in 
these  States,  a  few  years  back  in  their  lives,  were  hired 
laborers.  The  prudent,  penniless  beginner  in  the  world, 
labors  for  wages  awhile,  saves  a  surplus  with  which  to  buy 
tools  or  land  for  himself,  then  labors  on  his  own  account 
another  while,  and  at  length  hires  another  new  beginner  to 
help  him.  This  is  the  just,  and  generous,  and  prosperous 
system,  which  opens  the  way  to  all — gives  hope  to  all,  and 
consequent  energy,  and  progress,  and  improvement  of  con- 
dition to  all.  No  men  living  are  more  worthy  to  be  trusted 
than  those  who  toil  up  from  poverty;  none  less  inclined  to 
take  or  touch  aught  which  they  have  not  honestly  earned. 
Let  them  beware  of  surrendering  a  political  power  which 
they  already  possess,  and  which,  if  surrendered,  will  surely 
be  used  to  close  the  door  of  advancement  against  such  as 
they,  and  to  fix  new  disabilities  and  burdens  upon  them, 
till  all  of  Uberty  shall  be  lost. 


222  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

From  the  first  taking  of  our  National  Census  to  the  last 
are  seventy  years ;  and  we  find  our  population  at  the  end 
of  the  period  eight  times  as  great  as  it  was  at  the  beginning. 
The  increase  of  those  other  thngs  which  men  deem  desirable 
has  been  even  greater.  We  thus  have  at  one  view  what  the 
popular  principle,  applied  to  Government  through  the 
machinery  of  the  States  and  the  Union,  has  produced  in  a 
given  time,  and  also  what  it  firmly  maintained,  it  promises 
for  the  future.  There  are  already  among  us^  those  who,  if 
the  Union  be  preserved,  will  live  to  see  it  contain  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  millions.  The  struggle  of  to-day  is.  not  alto- 
gether for  to-day;  it  is  for  a  vast  future  also.  With  a  re- 
liance on  Providence  all  the  more  firm  and  earnest,  let  us 
proceed  in  the  great  task  which  events  have  devolved  upon 

us. 
'  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Washington,  December  3,  1861. 

On  the  13th  of  January,  1862,  Mr.  Cameron  resigned  his 
place  in  the  Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  War,  receiving  an 
appointment  as  Minister  to  Russia,  and  the  Honorable 
Edwin  M.  Stanton  was  appointed  in  his  stead. 

The  message  sent  by  President  Lixcolx  to  Congress  on 
the  6th  of  March,  in  regard  to  gradual  and  compensated 
emancipation,  shows  that  he  had  now  come  to  look  seriously 
upon  the  question  of  employing  some  means  for  the  com- 
plete eradication  of  slavery.  He  intimates  plainly  that 
such  a  conviction  was  on  his  mind  when  preparing  his  mes- 
sage of  Dec.  3, 1861.  His  emancipation  message  is  in  these 
words : 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
SENT.^TivEs:  I  recommend  the  adoption  of  a  joint  resolu- 
tion by  your  honorable  bodies,  which  shall  be  substantially 
as  follows : 


LiFK  OF  Abraham  Lincoln.  223 

Resolved,  That  the  United  States  ought  to  co-operate 
with  any  State  which  may  adopt  gradual  abohshment  of 
slavery,  giving  to  such  State  pecuniary  aid,  to  be  used  by 
such  State  in  its  discretion,  to  compensate  for  the  incon- 
veniences, public  and  private,  produced  by  such  change  of 
system. 

If  the  proposition  contained  in  the  resolution  does  not 
meet  the  approval  of  Congress  and  the  country,  there  is  the 
end;  but  if  it  does  command  such  approval,  I  deem  it  of 
importance  that  the  States  and  people  immediately  inter- 
ested should  be  at  once  distinctly  notified  of  the  fact,  so 
that  they  may  begin  to  consider  whether  to  accept  or  re- 
ject it.  The  Federal  Government  would  find  its  highest 
interest  in  such  a  measure  as  one  of  the  most  efficient  means 
of  self-preservation.  The  leaders  of  the  existing  insurrec- 
tion entertain  the  hope  that  this  Government  will  ultimately 
be  forced  to  acknowledge  the  independence  of  some 
part  of  the  disaffected  region,  and  that  all  the  Slave  States 
north  of  such  part  will  then  say,  "the  Union  for  which  we 
have  struggled  being  already  gone,  we  now  choose  to  go 
with  the  southern  section. "  To  deprive  them  of  this  hope 
substantially  ends  the  rebellion,  and  the  initiation  of  eman- 
cipation completely  deprives  them  of  it  as  to  all  the  States 
initiating  it.  The  point  is  not  that  all  the  States  tolerating 
slavery  would  very  soon,  if  at  all,  initiate  emancipation, 
but  that,  while,  the  offer  is  equally  made  to  all,  the  more 
northern  shall,  by  such  initiation,  make  it  certain  to  the 
more  southern  that  in  no  event  will  the  former  ever  join  the 
latter  in  their  proposed  confederacy.  I  say  "initiation," 
because,  in  my  judgment,  gradual,  and  not  sudden  emanci- 
pation, is  better  for  all.  In  the  mere  financial  or  pecuniary 
view,  any  member  of  Congress,  with  the  Census  tables  and 
treasury  reports  before  him,  can  readily  see  for  himself  how 
very  soon  the  current  expenditures  of  this  war  would  pur- 


224  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

chase,  at  a  fair  valuation,  all  the  slaves  in  any  named  State. 
Such  a  proposition  on  the  part  of  the  General  Government 
sets  up  no  claim  of  a  right  by  Federal  authority  to  interfere 
with  slavery  within  State  limits,  referring,  as  it  does,  the 
absolute  control  of  the  subject  in  each  case  to  the  State 
and  its  people  immediately  interested.  It  is  proposed  as 
a  matter  of  perfectly  free  choice  with  them. 

In  the  annual  message  last  December  I  thought  fit  to 
say,  "the  Union  must  be  preserved,  and  hence  all  indis- 
pensable means  must  be  employed. "  I  said  this  not  hast- 
ily, but  deliberately.  War  has  been  made,  and  continues 
to  be  an  indispensable  means  to  this  end.  A  practical  re- 
acloiowledgment  of  the  National  authority  would  render 
the  war  unnecessary,  and  it  would  at  once  cease.  If,  how- 
ever, resistance  continues,  the  war  must  also  continue,  and 
it  is  impossible  to  foresee  all  the  incidents  which  may  attend 
and  aU  the  ruin  which  may  follow  it.  Such  as  may  seem 
indispensable,  or  may  obviously  promise  great  efficiency 
toward  ending  the  struggle,  must  and  will  come. 

The  proposition  now  made,  though  an  offer  only,  I  hope 
it  may  be  esteemed  no  offense  to  ask  whether  the  pecuniary 
consideration  tendered  \\ould  not  be  of  more  value  to  the 
States  and  private  persons  concerned  than  are  the  institu- 
tions and  property  in  it,  in  the  present  aspect  of  affairs. 

While  it  is  true  that  the  adoption  of  the  proposed  resolu- 
tion would  be  merely  initiatory,  and  not  within  itself  a  prac- 
tical measure,  it  is  recommended  in  the  hope  that  it  would 
soon  lead  to  important  practical  results.  In  full  view  of 
my  great  responsibility  to  my  God  and  to  my  coimtry,  I 
earnestly  beg  the  attention  of  Congress  and  the  people  to  the 
subject. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

March  6,  1862. 


>^,«e^:<^^t^     syCC  a^^-^^^c^  rt^ 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  225 

The  resolution  recommended  in  the  foregoing  paper  was 
passed  by  the  House  on  the  11th  of  March— ayes  97,  noes 
36.  Only  five  of  the  affirmative  votes  were  from  the  Slave 
States.  The  resolution  was  concurred  in  by  the  Senate, 
with  little  opposition,  and  signed  by  the  President  on  the 
10th  of  April. 

Early  in  April  the  Senate  passed  a  bill  abolishing  slavery 
the  District  of  Columbia,  with  compensation  to  the  loyal 
owners  of  slaves.  This  bill  passed  the  House  on  the  11th  of 
the  same  month,  four  days  after  its  transmission— ayes  92, 
noes  39.  In  communicating  his  approval  of  this  measure, 
the  President,  departing  from  the  usual  practice,  sent  a 
message  to  Congress  in  the  following  terms: 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives: The  act  entitled  "An  act  for  the  release  of 
certain  persons  held  to  service  or  labor  in  the  District  of 
Columbia, "  has  this  day  been  approved  and  signed. 

I  have  never  doubted  the  constitutional  authority  of  Con- 
gress to  abolish  slavery  in  this  District;  and  I  have  ever  de- 
sired to  see  the  National  Capital  freed  from  the  institution 
in  some  satisfactory  way.  Hence  there  has  never  been, 
in  my  mind,  any  question  upon  the  subject  except  the  one 
of  expediency,  arising  in  view  of  all  the  circumstances.  If 
there  be  matters  within  and  about  this  act  which  might 
have  taken  a  course  or  shape  more  satisfactory  to  my  judg- 
ment, I  do  not  attempt  to  specify  them.  I  am  gratified 
that  the  two  principles  of  compensation  and  colonization 
are  both  recognized  and  practically  applied  in  the  act. 

In  the  matter  of  compensation  it  is  provided  that  claims 
may  be  presented  within  ninety  days  from  the  passage  of 
the  act,  "but  not  thereafter,"  and  there  is  no  saving  for 
minors,  femmes-covert,  insane  or  absent  persons.  I  pre- 
sume this  is  an  omission  by  mere  oversight,  and  I  recom- 


226  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

mend  that  it  be  supplied  by  an  amendatory  or  supple- 
mental act. 
April  16,  1862.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

On  the  10th  of  June,  President  Lincoln  commimicated 
to  Congress  a  copy  of  a  treaty  negotiated  with  Great  Brit- 
ain, having  for  it  design  a  complete  suppression  of  the 
African  slave-trade. 

The  Confiscation  Act,  as  finally  matured  and  passed  by 
Congress,  with  a  special  provision  for  conditional  pardon 
and  amnesty,  received  the  approval  of  the  Executive  on  the 
last  day  of  the  session,  July  17th.  To  obviate  constitu- 
tional objections  known  to  exist  in  the  President's  mind,  to 
the  measure  as  at  first  passed,  a  supplementary  joint 
resolution  had  been  adopted,  limiting  the  forfeiture  of  real 
estate  to  the  lifetime  of  its  rebel  owner.  His  views  on  this 
subject  were  officially  set  forth  in  a  document,  from  which 
the  following  memorable  sentences  are  quoted: 

It  is'startling  to  say  that  Congress  can  free  a  slave  within 
a  State,  and  yet  were  it  said  that  the  ownership  of  a  slave 
had  first  been  transferred  to  the  nation,  and  that  Congress 
had  then  Uberated  him,  the  difficulty  would  vanish;  and 
this  is  the  real  case.  The  traitor  against  the  General  Gov- 
ernment forfeits  his  slave  at  least  as  justly  as  he  does 
any  other  property,  and  he  forfeits  both  to  the  Govern- 
ment against  which  he  offends.  The  Government,  so  far 
as  there  can  be  ownership,  owns  the  forfeited  slaves,  and 
the  question  for  Congress  in  regard  to  them  is,  shall  they  be 
made  free  or  sold  to  new  masters?  I  see  no  objection  to 
Congress  deciding  in  advance  that  they  shall  be  free. 

That  those  who  make  a  causeless  war  should  be  com- 
pelled to  pay  the  cost  of  it,  is  too  obviously  just  to  be  called 
in  question.  To  give  Government  protection  to  the  prop- 
erty of  persons  who  have  abandoned  it,  and  gone  on  a 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  227 

crusade  to  overthrow  the  same  Government,  is  absurd,  if 
considered  in  the  mere  light  of  justice.  The  severest  jus- 
tice may  not  always  be  the  best  policy.  *  *  I  think  our 
military  commanders,  when,  in  military  phrase,  they  are 
within  the  enemy's  country,  should,  in  an  orderly  manner, 
seize  and  keep  whatever  of  real  and  personal  property  may 
be  necessary  or  convenient  for  their  commands,  and  at  the 
same  time  preserve  in  some  way  the  evidence  of  what  they 
do. 

A  few  days  before  the  adjournment,  the  President,  evi- 
dently looking  forward  to  the  necessity  of  a  more  radical 
and  decisive  policy  in  regard  to  slavery,  invited  the  Sena- 
tors and  Representatives  of  the  border  Slave  States  to  a 
conference.  The  disastrous  Peninsular  campaign  was  now 
over,  and  depression  prevailed  throughout  the  country. 
The  war  must  somehow  be  ended,  with  the  rebellion  over- 
thrown ;  and  the  employment  of  every  effective  and  legiti- 
mate war  measure,  he  felt  to  be  now  demanded.  He  de- 
sired the  great  change  to  come  as  lightly  as  possible  on  the 
still  loyal  Slave  States,  and  it  was  in  this  spirit  that  the 
interview  was  solicited  by  him.  Having  convened  at  the 
Executive  Mansion,  on  the  12th  of  July,  these  representa- 
tives were  addressed  by  Mr.  Lincoln  (reading  what  he  had 
carefully  prepared  for  the  occasion)  as  follows : 

Gentlemen:  After  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  now 
near,  I  shall  have  no  opportunity  of  seeing  you  for  several 
months.  Believing  that  you  of  the  Border  States  hold 
more  power  for  good  than  any  other  equal  number  of  mem- 
bers, I  feel  it  a  duty  which  I  cannot  justifiably  waive  to 
make  this  appeal  to  you. 

I  intend  no  reproach  or  complaint  when  I  assure  you  that 
in  my  opinion,  if  you  all  had  voted  for  the  resolution  in  the 


228  Life   of  Abraham   Lincoln. 

gradual  emancipation  message  of  last  March,  the  war 
would  now  be  substantially  ended.  And  the  plan  therein 
proposed  is  yet  one  of  the  most  potent  and  swift  means  of 
ending  it.  Let  the  States  which  are  in  rebellion  see  definite- 
ly and  certainly  that  in  no  event  will  the  States  you  repre- 
sent ever  join  their  proposed  Confederacy,  and  they  can- 
not much  longer  maintain  the  contest.  But  you  cannot 
divest  them  of  their  hope  to  ultimately  have  you  with 
them  so  long  as  you  show  a  determination  to  perpetuate 
the  institution  within  your  o^vn  States.  Beat  them  at 
elections,  as  you  have  overwhelmingly  done,  and,  nothing 
daunted,  they  still  claim  you  as  their  own.  You- and  I 
know  what  the  lever  of  their  power  is.  Break  that  lever 
before  their  faces,  and  they  can  shake  j-ou  no  more  forever. 
Most  of  3'ou  have  treated  me  with  kindness  and  consider- 
ation, and  I  trust  j'ou  will  not  now  think  I  improperly 
touch  what  is  exclusively  your  own,  when,  for  the  sake  of 
the  whole  country,  I  ask,  "Can  you,  for  your  States,  do 
better  than  to  take  the  course  I  urge?"  Discarding 
punctilio  and  maxims  adapted  to  more  manageable  times, 
and  looking  only  to  the  unprecedently  stern  facts  of  our 
case,  can  you  do  better  in  any  possible  event?  You  prefer 
that  the  constitutional  relations  of  the  States  to  the  nation 
shall  be  practically  restored  without  disturbance  of  the 
institution;  and,  if  this  were  done,  my  whole  duty  in  this 
respect,  under  the  Constitution  and  my  oath  of  office,  would 
be  performed.  But  it  is  not  done,  and  we  are  trying  to 
accomplish  it  by  war.  The  incidents  of  the  war  cannot  be 
avoided.  If  the  war  continues  long,  as  it  must  if  the  ob- 
ject be  not  sooner  attained,  the  institution  in  your  States 
will  be  extinguished  bj^  mere  friction  and  abrasion — by 
the  mere  incidents  of  the  war.  It  \\-ill  be  gone,  and  you 
vdll  have  nothing  valuable  in  lieu  of  it.  Much  of  its  value 
is  gone  already.    How  much  better  for  you  and  for  your 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  229 

people  to  take  the  step  which  at  once  shortens  the  war, 
and  secures  substantial  compensation  for  that  which  is 
sure  to  be  wholly  lost  in  any  other  event !  How  much  bet- 
ter to  thus  save  the  money  which  else  we  sink  forever  in 
the  war!  How  much  better  to  do  it  while  we  can,  lest  the 
war,  ere  long,  render  us  pecuniarily  unable  to  do  it!  How 
much  better  for  you  as  seller,  and  the  nation,  as  buyer,  to 
sell  out  and  buy  all  that  without  which  the  war  could 
never  have  been,  than  to  sink  both  the  thing  to  be  sold  and 
the  price  of  it,  in  cutting  one  another's  throats! 

I  do  not  speak  of  emancipation  at  once,  but  of  a  decision 
at  once  to  emancipate  gradually.  Room  in  South  Africa 
for  colonization  can  be  obtained  cheaply  and  in  abundance, 
and  when  numbers  shall  be  large  enough  to  be  company 
and  encouragement  for  one  another,  the  freed  people  will 
not  be  so  reluctant  to  go. 

I  am  pressed  with  a  difficulty  not  yet  mentioned — one 
which  threatens  division  among  those  who,  united,  are 
none  too  strong.  An  instance  of  it  is  known  to  you.  Gen- 
eral Hunter  is  an  honest  man.  He  was,  and  I  hope  still  is, 
my  friend.  I  valued  him  none  the  less  for  his  agreeing 
with  me  in  the  general  wish  that  all  men  everywhere  could 
be  freed.  He  proclaimed  all  men  free  within  certain 
States,  and  I  repudiated  the  proclamation.  He  expected 
more  good  and  less  harm  from  the  measure  than  I  could 
believe  would  follow.  Yet,  in  repudiating  it,  I  gave  dis- 
satisfaction, if  not  offense,  to  many  whose  support  the 
country  cannot  afford  to  lose.  And  this  is  not  the  end 
of.  it.  The  pressure  in  this  direction  is  still  upon  me,  and 
is  increasing.  By  conceding  what  I  now  ask  you  can  re- 
lieve me,  and,  much  more,  can  relieve  the  country  in  this 
important  point. 

Upon  these  considerations,  I  have  again  begged  your 
attention  to  the  message  of  March  last.    Before  leaving 


230  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

the  Capitol,  consider  and  discuss  it  among  yourselves.  You 
are  patriots  and  statesmen,  and  as  such,  I  pray  you  con- 
sider this  proposition,  and,  at  the  least,  commend  it  to  the 
consideration  of  your  States  and  people.  As  you  would 
perpetuate  popular  government  for  the  best  people  in  the 
world,  I  beseech  you  that  you  do  in  no  wise  omit  this.  Our 
common  country  is  in  great  peril,  demanding  the  loftiest 
views  and  boldest  action  to  being  a  speedy  relief.  Once 
relieved,  its  form  of  government  is  saved  to  the  world;  its 
beloved  history  and  cherished  memories  are  vindicated, 
and  its  happy  future  fully  assured  and  rendered  incon- 
ceivably grand.  To  you,  more  than  to  any  others,  the 
privilege  is  given  to  assure  that  happiness,  and  swell  that 
grandeur,  and  to  link  your  own  names  therewith  forever. 

Twenty  of  the  Senators  and  Representatives  thus  ad- 
dressed replied  in  respectful,  but  decidedly  unfavorable, 
terms.    Nine  only  made  friendly  and  approving  responses. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Peninsular  Campaign. 

More  than  six  months  having  elapsed  since  the  command 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  devolved  upon  General 
McClellan,  without  the  development  of  either  a  particular 
plan  or  a  general  purpose  of  attacking  the  enemy,  under 
circumstances  the  most  favorable,  and  an  unexpected 
quiescence  having  followed  his  appointment  as  General- 
in-chief,  the  President  at  length  issued  his  "General  War 
Order,  No.  1,"  as  follows: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  ) 
January  27,   1862.  f 

President's  General  War  Order,  No.  1.] 

Ordered,  That  the  22d  day  of  February,  1862,  be  the 
day  for  a  general  movement  of  the  land  and  naval  forces  of 
the  United  States  against  the  insurgent  forces. 

That  especially  the  Army  at  and  about  Fortress  Monroe, 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  the  Army  of  Western  Virginia, 
the  Army  near  Mumfordsville,  Kentucky,  the  Army  and 
Flotilla  at  Cairo,  and  a  naval  force  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
be  ready  for  a  movement  on  that  day. 

That  all  forces,  both  land  and  naval,  with  their  re- 
spective commanders,  obey  existing  orders  for  the  time, 
and  be  ready  to  obey  additional  orders  when  duly  given. 

That  the  Heads  of  Departments,  and  especially  the 
Secretaries  of  War  and  of  the  Navy,  with  all  their  sub- 
ordinates, and  the  General-in-chief,  with   all   other   com- 

231 


232  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

manders  and  subordinates  of  land  and  naval  forces,  will 
severally  be  held  to  their  strict  and  full  responsibilities  for 
the  prompt  execution  of  this  order. 

Abraham   Lincoln. 


After  thus  directing  General  McClellan's  efforts  more 
particularly  to  the  management  of  the  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac, the  President  soon  found  it  expedient  to  concentrate 
that  officer's  thoughts  upon  some  definite  plan — which 
had  evidently  been  not  very  clearly  before  his  mind  hither- 
to— for  rendering  this  great  force  of  practical  service  to  the 
Government.  Consequently,  four  days  later,  the  following 
order  was  communicated  to  McClellan: 


Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  ) 
January. 31,  1862.  ) 
Ordered,  That  all  the  disposable  force  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  after  providing  safely  for  the  defense  of  Wash- 
ington, be  formed  into  an  expedition  for  the  immediate 
object  of  seizing  and  occupying  a  point  upon  the  railroad 
south-westward  of  what  is  known  as  Manassas  Junction; 
all  details  to  be  in  the  discretion  of  the  Commander-in-chief, 
and  the  expedition  to  move  before,  or  on,  the  twenty-second 
day  of  February  next. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 


On  the  3d  of  February,  President  Lincoln  addressed 
to  Gen.  McClellan  the  following  memorable  letter,  having 
reference  to  the  Urbana  plan,  scarcely  more  than  alluded 
to  by  McClellan  in  his  final  report,  and  seemingly  as  un- 
ceremoniously abandoned,  after  serving  a  purpose,  as  it 
had  been  zealously  improvised; 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  233 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,    ) 
February  3,  1862.  f 

My  Dear  Sir:  You  and  I  have  distinct  and  different 
plans  for  a  movement  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac ;  yours 
to  be  done  by  the  Chesapeake,  up  the  Rappahannock  to 
Urbana,  and  across  land  to  the  terminus  of  the  railroad  on 
the  York  river;  mine  to  move  directly  to  a  point  on  the 
railroad  southwest  of  Manassas. 

If  you  will  give  satisfactory  answers  to  the  following  ques- 
tions, I  shall  gladly  yield  my  plan  to  yours: 

1st.  Does  not  your  plan  involve  a  greatly  larger  expen- 
diture of  time  and  money  than  mine? 

2d.  Wherein  is  a  victory  more  certain  by  your  plan  than 
mine? 

3d.  Wherein  is  a  victory  more  valuable  by  your  plan 
than  mine? 

4th.  In  fact,  would  it  not  be  less  valuable  in  this;  that 
it  would  break  no  great  line  of  the  enemy's  communica- 
tions, while  mine  would? 

5th.  In  case  of  disaster,  would  not  a  retreat  be  more 
difficult  by  your  plan  than  mine? 

Yours  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

Major-General  McClellan 

With  all  that  had  been  accomphshed  in  the  way  of  or- 
ganization, discipline,  and  general  preparation,  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  had  still  remained  without  distribution  into 
Army  Corps.  The  President,  sustained  by  the  best  mili- 
tary authorities  and  advisers,  if  not  by  the  universal  prac- 
tice in  modern  warfare,  had  desired  such  organization  to 
be  made.  This  General  McClellan  had  failed  to  attend  to, 
and  it  was  not  until  he  was  on  the  eve  of  a  movement 
toward  Manassas,  with  a  manifest  purpose  not  to  perfect 
his  organization,  that  President  Lincoln  issued  the  follow- 
ing peremptory  order: 


234  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington, 
March  8,  1862. 

President's  General  War  Order,  No.  2.] 

Ordered,  I.  That  the  Major-General  commanding  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  proceed  forthwith  to  organize  that 
part  of  said  army  destined  to  enter  upon  active  operations, 
(including  the  reserve,  but  excluding  the  troops  to  be  left 
in  the  fortifications  about  Washington),  into  four  army 
corps,  to  be  commanded  according  to  seniority  of  rank,  as 
follows : 

First  Corps,  to  consist  of  four  divisions,  and  to  be  com- 
manded by  Major-General  A.  McDowell. 

Second  Corps,  to  consist  of  three  divisions,  and  to  be  com- 
manded by  Brigadier-General  E.  V.  Sumner. 

Third  Corps,  to  consist  of  three  divisions,  and  to  be  com- 
manded by  Brigadier-General  S.  P.  Heintzelman. 

Fourth  Corps,  to  consist  of  three  divisions,  and  to  be  com- 
manded by  Brigadier-General  E.  D.  Keyes. 

IL  That  the  divisions  now  commanded  by  the  officers 
above  assigned  to  the  command  of  Corps,  shall  be  em- 
braced in  and  form  part  of  their  respective  Corps. 

III.  The  forces  left  for  the  defense  of  Washington  will 
be  placed  in  command  of  Brigadier-General  James  S.  Wads- 
worth,  who  shall  also  be  Military  Governor  of  the  District 
of  Columbia. 

IV.  That  this  order  be  executed  with  such  promptness 
and  dispatch,  as  not  to  delay  the  commencement  of  the 
operations  already  directed  to  be  undertaken  by  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac. 

V.  That  the  Fifth  Army  Corps,  to  be  commanded  by 
Major-General  N.  P.  Banks,  will  be  formed  from  his  own 
and  General  Shields',  late  General  Lander's,  division. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  235 

The  President,  who  had  reluctantly  yielded  his  preference 
for  such  an  advance  on  Richmond  as  would  at  the  same 
time  cover  the  National  Capital,  and  who  had  not  been 
indifferent  to  the  -^neglect  of  his  wishes  in  regard  to  the 
opening  of  the  Potomac,  or  to  the  delays  which  experience 
had  led  him  to  dread,  issued  the  subjoined  general  order: 

Executive  Mansion.  Washington,     ) 
March  8,  1862.  j 

Ordered.  That  no  change  of  the  base  of  operations  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  shall  be  made  without  leaving  in  and 
about  Washington  such  a  force  as,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
General-in-chief  and  the  commanders  of  army  corps,  shall 
leave  said  city  entirely  secure. 

That  no  more  than  two  army  corps  (about  fifty  thou- 
sand troops)  of  said  Army  of  the  Potomac  shall  be  moved 
en  route  for  a  new  base  of  operations  until  the  navigation  of 
the  Potomac,  from  Washington  to  the  Chesapeake  Bay, 
shall  be  freed  from  the  enemy's  batteries,  and  other  ob- 
structions, or  until  the  President  shall  hereafter  give  ex- 
press   permission. 

That  any  movement  as  aforesaid,  en  route  for  a  new  base 
of  operations,  which  may  be  ordered  by  the  General-in-- 
chief,  and  which  may  be  intended  to  move  upon  Chesa- 
peake Bay,  shall  begin  to  move  upon  the  bay  as  early  as 
the  18th  of  March,  instant,  and  the  General-in-chief  shall 
be  responsible  that  it  moves  as  early  as  that  day. 

Ordered,  That  the  Army  and  Navy  co-operate  in  an 
immediate  effort  to  capture  the  enemy's  batteries  upon  the 
Potomac  between  Washington  and  the  Chesapeake  Bay. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

L.    Thomas,    Adjutant-General. 

McClellan  having  now  taken  the  field,  so  that  a  super- 
vision of  all  the  armies  of  the  nation  was  clearly  out  of  his 


236  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

power,  the  President  made  public  a  change  that  was  no 
secret  to  the  General  commanding  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
through  the  following  order — in  which,  also,  two  separate 
departments  were  created  in  the  West,  to  be  commanded 
by  Generals  Halleck  and  Buell,  and  a  'third  intermediate 
department,  under  the  command  of  General  Fremont: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington, 
March  11,  1862. 
President's  War  Order,  No.  3.] 

Major-General  McClellan  having  personally  taken  the 
field  at  the  head  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  until  other- 
wise ordered,  he  is  relieved  from  the  command  of  the  other 
military  departments,  he  retauiing  command  of  the  De- 
partment of  the  Potomac. 

Ordered,  Further,  That  the  two  departments  now  under 
Hunter,  together  with  so  much  of  that  under  General  Buell 
as  lies  west  of  a  north  and  south  line  indefinitely  drawn 
through  Knoxville,  Tennessee,  be  ■  consohdated  and  des- 
ignated the  Department  of  the  Mississippi  and  that  until 
otherwise  ordered  Major-General  Halleck  have  command 
of  faid  department. 

Ordered,  also.  That  the  country  west  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Potomac  and  east  of  the  Department  of  the 
Mississippi  be  a  military  department,  to  be  called  the 
Mountain  Department,  and  that  the  same  be  commanded 
by  Major-General  Fremont. 

That  all  the  Commanders  of  Departments,  after  the  re- 
ceipt of  this  order  by  them  respectively,  report  severally 
and  directly  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  that  prompt,  full 
and  frequent  reports  will  be  expected  of  all  and  each  of 
them.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

There  still  remained  two  army  corps  which  had  not  yet 
been  transferred  to  the  Peninsula,  when  the  report  of  Gen- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  237 

erals  Thomas  and  Hitchcock  was  made.  The  only  remedy 
for  McClellan's  intended  disregard  aUke  of  the  conditions  of 
his  own  plan  and  of  the  President's  requirement,  respecting 
the  force  to  be  left  at  Washington  and  in  its  vicinity,  was 
such  as  the  President  applied  in  the  first  part  of  the  follow- 
ing order,  the  wisdom  of  which  was  soon  fully  demonstrated : 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington, 

April  3,  1862. 

The  Secretary  of  War  will  order  that  one  or  the  other  of 
the  corps  of  General  McDowell  and  General  Sumner  remain 
in  front  of  Washington  until  further  orders  from  the  Depart- 
ment, to  operate  at,  or  in  the  direction  of,  Manassas  Junc- 
tion, or  otherwise  as  the  occasion  may  require;  that  the 
other  corps,  not  so  ordered  to  remain,  go  forward  to  General 
McClellan  as  speedily  as  possible;  that  General  McClellan 
commence  his  forward  movements  from  his  new  base  at 
once,  and  that  such  incidental  modifications  as  the  fore- 
going may  render  proper,  be  also  made. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

If  the  President  had  not  expected  any  serious  loss  of  time 
at  Yorktown,  it  is  equally  evident,  from  official  dispatches, 
that  such  a  thought  had  found  no  place  in  the  mind  of  Mc- 
Clellan until  about  the  same  date  as  his  official  notifica- 
tion of  the  action  of  the  Administration,  just  referred  to. 
His  dispatch,  urging  a  reconsideration  of  this  action,  was 
prefaced  by  representations  of  the  numbers  and  prepara- 
tions of  the  enemy,  not  very  closely  agreeing  with  those 
previously  given,  yet  at  least  such  as  to  afford  cogent 
reasons  for  an  unhesitating  advance.  This  significant  paper 
is  subjoined: 

[Received  8.30  A.  M.,  April  6.] 

Near  Yorktown,  7J  P.  M.,  April  5. 
A.  Lincoln,  President:  The  enemy  are  in  large  force 


238  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

along  our  front,  and  apparently  intend  making  a  determined 
resistance.  A  reconnoissance  just  made  by  General  Bar- 
nard shows  that  their  line  of  works  extends  across  the  entire 
Peninsula  from  YorktowTi  to  Warwick  river.  Many  of 
them  are  very  formidable.  Deserters  say  they  are  being 
reinforced  daily  from  Richmond  and  from  Norfolk.  Under 
these  circumstances,  I  beg  that  you  will  reconsider  the  order 
detacliing  the  First  Corps  from  my  command.  In  my 
deliberate  judgment  the  success  of  our  cause  will  be  im- 
periled by  so  greatly  reducing  my  force  when  it  is  actually 
under  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  and  active  operations  have 
commenced.  Two  or  three  of  my  divisions  have  been 
under  fire  of  artillery  most  of  the  day.  I  am  now  of  the 
opinion  that  I  shall  have  to  fight  all  the  available  force  of 
the  Rebels  not  far  from  here.  Do  not  force  me  to  do  so  with 
diminished  numbers,  but  whatever  your  decision  may  be  I 
will  leave  nothing  undone  to  obtain  success.  If  you  cannot 
leave  me  the  whole  of  the  First  Corps,  I  urgently  ask  that 
I  may  not  lose  Frankhn  and  his  division. 

G.  B.  McClellan,  Major-General. 
To  this  dispatch  the  following  reply  was  promptly  sent : 

War  Department,  Washington  City, 

April  6,  1862. 
Major-General  Geo.  B.  McClellan:  The  President  di- 
rects me  to  say  that  your  dispatch  to  liim  has  been  re- 
ceived. Sumner's  corps  is  on  the  road  to  you,  and  will  go 
forward  as  fast  as  possible.  Franklin's  division  is  now  on 
the  advance  toward  Manassas.  There  are  no  means  of 
transportation  here  to  send  it  fom^ard  in  time  to  be  of 
service  in  your  present  operations.  Telegraph  frequently, 
and  all  in  the  power  of  the  Government  shall  be  done  to 
sustain  you  as  occasion  may  require. 

Edwin  M.  Stanton, 

Secretary  of  War. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  239 

Magruder,  who  commanded  the  Rebel  force  near  York- 
town,  fully  appreciated  the  element  of  time  in  this  cam- 
paign, and  undoubtedly  maneuvered  with  some  skill  to  put 
his  adversary  on  a  cautious  policy.  In  general  orders  to 
be  read  to  his  troops,  on  the  4th  of  April,  he  said:  "The 
enemy  is  before  us— our  works  are  strong — our  cause  is 
good — we  fight  for  our  homes,  and  must  be  careful.  Every 
hour  we  hold  out  brings  us  reinforcements. "  Instead  of 
availing  himself  of  his  overwhelming  superiority  of 
numbers  by  a  resolute  attack,  McClellan  paused  to  discuss 
still  further  the  conduct  of  the  Administration  as  to  matters 
far  away  from  the  immediate  sphere  of  his  labors,  and  to 
beg  for  reinforcements.  On  the  6th  he  sent  the  following 
dispatch,  (received  in  Washington  at  3  o'clock  P.  M.) : 

Headquarters  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
A.  Lincoln,  President:  The  order  forming  new  Depart- 
ments, if  rigidly  enforced,  deprives  me  of  the  power  of 
ordering  up  wagons  and  troops  absolutely  necessary  to 
enable  me  to  advance  to  Richmond.  I  have  by  no  means 
the  transportation  I  must  have  to  move  my  army  even  a 
few  miles.  I  respectfully  request  that  I  may  not  be  placed 
in  this  position,  but  that  my  orders  for  wagon  trains,  am- 
munition, and  other  material  that  I  have  prepared  and  nec- 
essarily left  behind,  as  well  as  Woodbury's  brigade,  may  at 
once  be  complied  with.  The  enemy  is  strong  in  my  front, 
and  I  have  a  most  serious  task  before  me,  in  the  fulfillment 
of  wliich  I  need  all  the  aid  the  Government  can  give  me. 
I  again  repeat  the  urgent  request  that  General  Franklin 
and  his  division  may  be  restored  to  my  command. 

G.  B.  McClellan,  Major-General. 

To  this  the  President  replied : 

Washington,  April  6,  1862. 
Major-General  McClellan,  Fortress  Monroe:  Yours  of 


240 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


11  A.  M.  to-day  received.  The  Secretary  of  War  informs 
me  that  the  forwarding  of  transportation,  ammunition,  and 
Woodbury's  brigade,  under  your  orders  is  not,  and  will  not 
be  interfered  with.  You  now  have  over  one  hmidred  thou- 
sand troops  with  you,  independent  of  General  Wool's  com- 
mand. I  think  you  had  better  break  the  enemy's  line  from 
Yorktown  to  War\vick  river  at  once.  They  will  probably 
use  time  as  advantageously  as  you  can. 

A.  Lincoln. 
So  persistent  was  McClellan  in  these  complaints  and 
demands,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  felt  constrained  to  address  to 
liim  the  following  frank  and  kindly  letter,  plainly  rehears- 
ing the  facts  and  reasons  of  the  case,  a'nd  again  pointedly 
indicating  the  grand  necessity  of  the  hour: 


Washington,  April  9,  1862. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  Your  dispatches,  complaining  that  you 
are  not  properly  sustained,  while  they  do  not  offend  me, 
do  pain  me  very  nmch. 

Blenker's  division  was  withdrawn  from  you  before  you 
left  here,  and  you  know  the  pressure  under  which  I  did  it, 
and,  as  I  thought,  acquiesced  in  it — certanly  not  without 
reluctance. 

After  you  left,  I  ascertained  that  less  than  twenty  thou- 
sand unorganized  men,  without  a  single  field  battery,  were 
all  you  designed  to  be  left  for  the  defense  of  Washington 
and  Manassas  Junction,  and  part  of  this  even  was  to  go  to 
General  Hooker's  old  position.  General  Banks'  corps, 
once  designed  for  Manassas  Junction,  was  diverted  and 
tied  up  on  the  line  of  Winchester  and  Strasburgh,  and  could 
not  leave  it  without  exposing  again  the  Upper  Potomac 
and  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad.  This  presented, 
or  would  present,  when  McDowell  and  Sumner  should  be 
gone,  a  great  temptation  to  the  enemy  to  turn  back  from 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  241 

the  Rappahannock  and  sack  Washington.  My  implicit 
order  that  Washington  should,  by  the  judgment  of  all  the 
commanders  of  army  corps,  be  left  entirely  secure,  had  been 
neglected.  It  was  precisely  this  that  drove  me  to  detain 
McDowell. 

I  do  not  forget  that  I  was  satisfied  with  your  arrange- 
ment to  leave  Banks  at  Manassas  Junction :  but  when  that 
arrangement  was  broken  up,  and  nothing  was  substituted 
for  it,  of  course  I  was  constrained  to  substitute  something 
for  it  myself.  And  allow  me  to  ask,  do  you  really  tliink  I 
should  permit  the  line  from  Richmond,  via  Manassas  Junc- 
tion, to  this  city,  to  be  entirely  open,  except  what  resist- 
ance could  be  presented  by  less  than  twenty  thousand 
unorganized  troops?  This  is  a  question  which  the  country 
will  not  allow  me  to  evade. 

There  is  a  curious  mystery  about  the  number  of  troops 
now  with  you.  When  I  telegraphed  you  on  the  6th,  saying 
you  had  over  a  hundred  thousand  with  you,  I  had  just  ob- 
tained from  the  Secretary  of  War  a  statement  taken,  as  he 
said,  from  your  own  returns,  making  one  hundred  and  eight 
thousand  then  with  you  and  en  route  to  you.  You  now  say 
you  will  have  but  eighty-five  thousand  when  all  en  route  to 
you  shall  have  reached  you.  How  can  the  discrepancy  of 
twenty-three  thousand  be  accounted  for? 

As  to  General  Wool's  command,  I  understand  it  is  doing 
for  you  precisely  what  a  like  number  of  your  own  would 
have  to  do  if  that  command  was  away. 

I  suppose  the  whole  force  which  has  gone  forward  for 
you  is  with  you  by  this  time.  And  if  so,  I  think  it  is  the 
precise  time  for  you  to  strike  a  blow.  By  delay,  the 
enemy  will  relatively  gain  upon  you — that  is,  he  will  gain 
faster  by  fortifications  and  reinforcements  than  you  can  by 
reinforcements  alone.  And  once  more  let  me  tell  you,  it 
is  indispensable  to  you  that  you  strike  a  blov/.    I  am 


242  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

powerless  to  help  this.  You  will  do  me  the  justice  to  re- 
member I  always  insisted  that  going  down  the  bay  in  search 
of  a  field,  instead  of  fighting  at  or  near  Manassas,  was  only 
shifting,  and  not  surmounting  a  difficulty;  that  we  would 
find  the  same  enemy,  and  the  same  or  equal  intrenchments, 
at  either  place.  The  country  will  not  fail  to  note,  is  now 
noting,  that  the  present  hesitation  to  move  upon  an  in- 
trenched enemy  is  but  the  story  of  Manassas  repeated. 

I  beg  to  assure  you  that  I  have  never  written  you  or 

spoken  to  you  in  greater  kindness  of  feeling  than  now,  nor 

with  a  fuller  purpose  to  sustain  you,  so  far  as,  in  my  most 

anxious  judgment,  I  consistently  can.    But  you  must  act. 

Yours  very  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

Major-General  McClellan. 

The  total  number  of  McClellan's  force,  on  the  30th  of 
April,  as  officially  given  by  Assistant  Adjutant-General 
Townsend,  was  130,378,  of  whom  112,392  are  reported  as 
"effective."  This  includes  the  division  under  General 
Franklin,  which  had  arrived  several  days  before,  but  still 
remained  on  the  transports. 

Nearly  a  month  had  now  passed,  in  the  manner  indicated 
by  the  dispatches  above  quoted — fair  samples  of  all — when 
there  came  a  request  for  additional  guns,  which  drew  from 
the  President  the  following  response: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,      ) 

May  1,  1862.  ) 
Major-General  McClellan:  Your  call  for  Parrott  guns 
from  Washington  alarms  me — chiefly  because  it  argues 
indefinite  procrastination.    Is  anything  to  be  done? 

A.  Lincoln. 

Two  days  later,  on  the  night  of  May  3d,  the  enemy 
evacuated  his  works. 
The  siege  of  Yorktown,  without  a  close  investment, 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  243 

which  was  not  attempted,  if  ever  contemplated,  could  have 
no  other  than  barren  results,  unless  the  retreating  enemy 
were  promptly  pursued.  For  this,  his  movement  was  not 
soon  enough  discovered.  Here  was,  indeed,  as  the  Presi- 
dent had  dreaded,  "the  story  of  Manassas  repeated" — -if 
that  opinion  may  be  hazarded  in  the  face  of  General 
McClellan's  positive  claim  of  a  "brilliant  success."  His 
first  announcement  of  the  evacuation  was  in  the  following 
dispatch : 

Headquarters  Army  of  the  Potomac,  ) 

May  4,  9  A.  M.  f 
To  the  Honorable  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War: 
We  have  the  ramparts.  Have  guns,  ammunition,  camp 
equipage,  etc.  We  hold  the  entire  line  of  his  works,  which 
the  engineers  report  as  being  very  strong.  I  have  thrown 
all  my  cavalry  and  horse-artillery  in  pursuit,  supported  by 
infantry.  I  move  Franklin's  division,  and  as  much  more 
as  I  can  transport  by  water,  up  to  West  Point  to-day.  No 
time  shall  be  lost.  The  gunboats  have  gone  up  York 
river.  I  omitted  to  state  that  Gloucester  is  also  in  our 
possession.     I  shall  push  the  enemy  to  the  wall. 

G.  B.  McClellan, 
Major  General. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
A  New  Era  Inaugurated. 

The  elections,  prior  to  the  autumn  of  1862,  had  shown 
large  majorities  for  the  Administration.  BrilHant  successes 
had  been  won  by  its  armies  in  the  West,  until,  in  June, 
the  tide  of  victory  paused  before  Vicksburg.  In  the  East, 
military  inefficiency  had  culminated  on  the  Peninsula 
and  before  AVashington.  Lee  had  invaded  Maryland,  and 
leisurely  retired,  unpursued.  Political  defeat  followed 
military  disaster.  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania  gave  small 
majorities  against  the  Administration  in  October.  New 
York,  in  the  next  month,  followed  the  example.  The  lower 
House  of  the  next  Congress  was  already  claimed  as  secured 
by  the  Opposition.  Popular  discontent  and  despondency 
were  everywhere  manifest.  Opposition  politicians  held 
the  President  responsible  before  the  people  for  the  non- 
action of  their  favorite  general,  whom  they  did  not  cease 
to  lament  when  removed.  Peace  Democrats  rallied  behind 
banners  inscribed,  "  For  a  more  vigorous  prosecution  of  the 
war;"  yet  their  representative  man  was  the  one  who,  evad- 
ing orders  of  the  Administration,  and  thwarting  the  Presi- 
dent's wishes,  had  wasted  lavish  preparations  and  abun- 
dant military  forces,  during  a  whole  year,  in  organizing 
failure. 

Long  before  this  disheartening  epoch,  however,  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  as  seen  in  previous  pages,  had  earnestly 
directed  his  thoughts  to  the  proper  mode  of  dealing  with 

245 


246  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

slavery,  in  its  necessary  relations  to  the  war.  His  final 
speech  to  the  Border  State  men  on  compensated  emanci- 
pation, as  we  have  seen,  plainly  indicated  that,  as  early  as 
July,  his  mind  was  made  up  to  wrest  this  element  of 
military  power  from  the  support  of  the  Rebellion. 

In  August,  Mr.  Greeley,  of  New  York,  published  in  his 
journal,  the  Tribune,  an  editorial  article  on  this  subject,  in 
the  form  of  a  letter  addressed  to  the  President,  severely 
criticising  his  action,  and  complaining,  in  no  very  gentle 
terms,  of  various  matters,  wherein  the  Administration  had, 
in  his  opinion,  fallen  short  of  the  just  expectations  of 
"twenty  milhons"  of  loyal  people.  The  whole  letter  pro- 
ceeded from  the  mistaken  assumption  that  the  President 
had  not,  all  along,  reflected  as  earnestly,  and  felt  as  deeply, 
in  regard  to  the  question  of  emancipation,  as  any  man 
living.  It  was  written  in  ignorance  of  the  fact  that  the 
President  had  already  fully  matured  and  resolved  upon  a 
definite  policy  in  regard  to  Slavery,  and  was  only  awaiting 
the  fitting  moment  for  its  aimouncement. 

Mr.  Lincoln  thought  proper  to  address  Mr.  Greeley  the 
following  letter,  in  reply  to  his  complaints: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  ) 
August  22,  1862.  ) 
Hon.  Horace  Greeley — Dear  Sir:  I  have  just  read 
yours  of  the  19th,  addressed  to  myself  through  the  New 
York  Tribune.  If  there  be  in  it  any  statements  or  as- 
sumptions of  fact  which  I  may  know  to  be  erroneous,  I  do 
not  now  and  here  controvert  them.  If  there  be  in  it  any 
inferences  which  I  may  believe  to  be  falsely  drawn,  I  do 
not  now  and  here  argue  against  them.  If  there  be  per- 
ceptible in  it  an  impatient  and  dictatorial  tone,  I  waive  it 
in  deference  to  an  old  friend,  whose  heart  I  have  always 
supposed  to  be  right. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  247 

As  to  the  policy  I  "seem  to  be  pursuing,"  as  you  say,  I 
have  not  meant  to  leave  any  one  in  doubt. 

I  would  save  the  Union.  I  would  save  it  the  shortest 
way  under  the  Constitution.  The  sooner  the  National 
authority  can  be  restored,  the  nearer  the  Union  will  be 
"  the  Union  as  it  was. "  If  there  be  those  who  would  not 
save  the  Union  unless  they  could  at  the  same  time  save 
Slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with  them.  If  there  be  those  who 
would  not  save  the  Union  unless  they  could  at  the  same 
time  destroy  Slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with  them.  My  para- 
mount object  in  this  struggle  is  to  save  the  Union,  and  is 
not  either  to  save  or  destroy  Slavery.  If  I  could  save  the 
Union  without  freeing  any  slave,  I  would  do  it;  if  I  could 
save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I 
could  do  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving  others  alone,  I 
would  also  do  that.  What  I  do  about  Slavery  and  the 
colored  race,  I  do  because  I  believe  it  helps  to  save  this 
Union;  and  what  I  forbear,  I  forbear  because  I  do  not  be- 
lieve it  would  help  to  save  the  Union.  I  shall  do  less  when- 
ever I  shall  beheve  what  I  am  doing  hurts  the  cause,  and  I 
shall  do  more  whenever  I  shall  believe  doing  more  will  help 
the  cause.  I  shall  try  to  correct  errors  when  shown  to  be 
errors;  and  I  shall  adopt  new  views  so  fast  as  they  shall 
appear  to  be  true  views.  I  have  here  stated  my  purpose 
according  to  my  view  of  offlcial  duty,  and  I  intend  no 
modification  of  my  oft-expressed  personal  wish  that  all 
men,  everywhere,  could  be  free. 

Yours,  A.  Lincoln. 

Although  the  proclamation  of  Emancipation  had  been 
prepared  some  time  before  this  letter  was  written — in  fact  as 
early  as  July — it  was  not  deemed  a  fitting  occasion  to  an- 
nounce this  great  measure,  when  our  army  was  recoiling 
from  before  Richmond,  or  when  our  capital  itself  was 


248  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

threatened  and  Maryland  invaded.  The  battle  of  Antie- 
tain,  followed  by  the  withdrawal  of  Lee's  army  into  Vir- 
ginia, occurred  on  the  17th  day  of  September.  The  Presi- 
dent, five  days  later,  issued  the  following- 

Proclamation  of  Emancipation. 

I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  thereof, 
do  hereby  proclaim  and  declare  that  hereafter,  as  hereto- 
fore, the  war  will  be  prosecuted  for  the  object  of  practi- 
cally restoring  the  constitutional  relation  between  the 
LTnited  States  and  the  people  thereof  in  those  States  in 
which  that  relation  is,  or  may  be,  suspended  or  disturbed, 
that  it  is  my  purpose  upon  the  next  meeting  of  Congress 
to  again  recommend  the  adoption  of  a  practical  measure 
tendering  pecuniary  aid  to  the  free  acceptance  or  rejection 
of  all  the  Slave  States,  so-called,  the  people  whereof 
may  not  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States 
and  which  States  may  then  have  voluntarily  adopted, 
or  thereafter  may  voluntarily  adopt,  the  immediate  or 
gradual  abolishment  of  Slavery  within  their  respective 
limits,  and  that  the  effort  to  colonize  persons  of  African 
descent,  with  their  consent,  upon  the  continent  or  else- 
where, with  the  previously  obtained  consent  of  the  govern- 
ment existing  there,  will  be  continued;  that  on  the  first 
day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  sixty  three,  all  persons  held  as  slaves 
within  any  State,  or  any  designated  part  of  a  State,  the 
people  whereof  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the 
United  States,  shall  be  then,  thenceforward  and 
forever,  free;  and  the  military  and  naval  authority 
thereof  will  recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom  of  such 
persons,  and  will  do  no  act  or  acts  to  repress  such  persons, 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  249 

or  any  of  them,  in  any  efforts  they  may  make  for  actual 
freedom;  that  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first  day  of 
January  aforesaid,  by  proclamation,  designate  the  States 
and  parts  of  States,  if  any,  in  which  the  people  thereof 
respectively  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United 
States;  and  the  fact  that  any  State,  or  the  people  thereof, 
shall  on  that  day  be  in  good  faith  represented  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  by  members  chosen  thereto, 
at  elections  wherein  a  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of 
such  State  shall  have  participated,  shall,  in  the  absence 
of  strong  countervailing  testimony,  be  deemed  conclusive 
evidence  that  such  State  and  the  people  thereof  have 
not  been  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States. 

Your  attention  is  hereby  called  to  an  act  of  Congress 
entitled,  "An  act  to  make  an  additional  article  of  war," 
approved  March  13,  1862,  and  which  act  is  in  the  words 
and  figures  following: 

"Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  in  Congress  assembled, 
That  hereafter  the  following  shall  be  promulgated  as 
an  addijtional  article  of  war  for  the  government  of  the 
Army  of  the  United  States,  and  shall  be  observed  and 
obeyed  as  such: 

"Article — .  All  officers  or  persons  of  the  mihtary 
or  naval  service  of  the  United  States  are  prohibited  from 
employing  any  of  the  forces  under  their  respective  com- 
mands for  the  purpose  of  returning  fugitives  from  service 
or  labor  who  may  have  escaped  from  any  persons  to 
whom  such  service  or  labor  is  claimed  to  be  due,  and  any 
officer  who  shall  be  found  guilty  by  a  court-martial  of 
violating  tliis  article  shall  be  dismissed  from  the  service. 

"Sec.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted  that  this  act  shall 
take  effect  from  and  after  its  passage." 

Also  to  the  ninth  and  tenth  sections  of  an  act  entitled, 


250  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

"An  act  to  suppress  insurrection,  to  punish  treason  and 
rebellion,  to  seize  and  confiscate  property  of  Rebels,  and 
for  other  purposes,"  approved  July  17,  1862,  and  wliich 
sections  are  in  the  words  and  figures  following: 

"Sec.  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted  that  all  slaves  of 
persons  who  shall  hereafter  be  engaged  in  rebellion  against 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  or  who  shall  in 
,  any  way  give  aid  or  comfort  thereto,  escaping  from  such 
persons  and  taking  refuge  within  the  lines  of  the  army; 
and  all  slaves  captured  from  such  persons  or  deserted 
by  them,  and  coming  under  the  control  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  and  all  slaves  of  such  persons  found 
on  (or  being  within)  any  place  occupied  by  Rebel  forces 
and  afterward  occupied  by  the  forces  of  the  United 
States,  shall  be  deemed  captives  of  war,  and  shall  be  for- 
ever free  of  their  servitude  and  not  again  held  as  slaves. 

"Sec.  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  that  no  slave 
escaping  into  any  State,  Territory  or  the  District  of 
Columbia,  from  any  of  the  States,  shall  be  delivered 
up,  or  in  any  way  impeded  or  hindered  of  his  liberty, 
except  of  crime,  or  some  offense  against  the  laws,  unless 
the  person  claiming  said  fugitive  shall  first  make  oath  that 
the  person  to  whom  the  labor  or  service  of  such  fugitive 
is  alleged  to  be  due,  is  his  lawful  owner,  and  has  not 
been  in  arms  against  the  United  States  in  the  present 
rebellion,  nor  in  any  way  given  aid  or  comfort  thereto; 
and  no  person  engaged  in  the  military  or  naval  service 
of  the  United  States  shall,  under  any  pretense  whatever, 
assume  to  decide  on  the  validity  of  the  claim  of  any  persons 
to  the  service  or  labor  of  any  other  person,  or  surrender 
up  any  such  person  to  the  claimant,  on  pain  of  being  dis- 
missed from  the  ser\'ice." 

And  I  do  hereby  enjoin  upon,  and  order  all  persons 
engaged  in  the  military  and  naval  service  of  the  United 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  251 

States  to  observe,  obey  and  enforce  within  their  respective 
spheres  of  service  the  act  and  sections  above  recited. 

And  the  Executive  will,  in  due  time,  recommend  that 
all  citizens  of  the  United  States,  who  shall  have  remained 
loyal  thereto  throughout  the  rebellion,  shall  (upon  the 
restoration  of  the  constitutional  relation  between  the 
United  States  and  their  respective  States  and  people, 
if  the  relation  shall  have  been  suspended  or  disturbed) 
be  conpensated  for  all  losses  by  acts  of  the  United  States, 
including  the  loss  of  slaves. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and 
caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  twenty-second 
day  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  sixty-two,  and  of  the  Independence 
of  the   United   States   the   eighty-seventh. 

By  the  President:  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Wm.    H.    Seward,    Secretary    of    State. 

On  the  1st  day  of  January,  the  expected  proclamation, 
completing  this  great  work  and  giving  it  actual  vitality, 
was  promulgated  in  the  following  terms: 

Whereas,  On  the  twenty-second  day  of  September, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
sixty  two,  a  proclamation  was  issued  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  containing,  among  other  things, 
the  following,  to-wit: 

That  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  all 
persons  held  as  slaves  within  any  State,  or  any  designated 
part  of  a  State,  the  people  whereof  shall  then  be  in  rebellion 
against  the  United  States,  shall  be  thenceforward  and 
forever  free,  and  the  Executive  Government  of  the  United 
States,  including  the  military  and  naval  authority  thereof, 


252  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

will  recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom  of  such  persons, 
and  wdll  do  no  act  or  acts  to  repress  such  persons,  or  any  of 
them,  in  any  efforts  they  may  make  for  their  actual  freedom : 

That  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first  day  of  January 
aforesaid,  by  proclamation,  designate  the  States  and 
parts  of  States,  if  any,  in  which  the  people  thereof  respec- 
tively shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States, 
and  the  fact  that  any  State,  or  the  people  thereof,  shall 
on  that  day  be  in  good  faith  represented  in  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  by  members  chosen  thereto  at  elec- 
tions wherein  a  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of  such 
State  shall  have  participated,  shall,  in  the  absence  of 
strong  countervailing  testimony,  be  deemed  conclusive 
evidence  that  such  State  and  the  people  thereof  are  not 
then  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States: 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  IjIncoln,  President  of 
the  United  States,  by  virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested 
as  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the 
United  States,  in  time  of  actual  armed  rebellion  against 
the  authority  and  Government  of  the  United  States, 
and  as  a  fit  and  necessary  war  measure  for  repressing 
said  rebellion,  do  on'  this  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three, 
and  in  accordance  with  my  purpose  so  to  do,  publicly 
proclaimed  for  the  full  period  of  one  hundred  days  from 
the  day  of  the  first  above-mentioned  order,  and  designate, 
as  the  States  and  parts  of  States  wherein  the  people 
thereof  respectively  are  this  day  in  rebellion  against  the 
United  States,  the  following,  to  wit:  Arkansas,  Texas, 
Louisiana,  except  the  parishes  of  St.  Bernard,  Plaque- 
mines, Jefferson,  St.  John,  St.  Charles,  St.  James,  Ascen- 
sion, Assumption,  Terre  Bonne,  Lafourche,  St.  Mary, 
St.  Martin,  and  Orleans,  including  the  city  of  New  Orleans, 
Mississippi,  Alabama,  Florida,  Georgia,  South  Carolina, 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  ,       253 

North  Carolina,  and  Virginia,  except  the  forty-eight 
counties  designated  as  West  Virginia,  and  also  the  counties 
of  Berkeley,  Accomac,  Northampton,  Elizabeth  City,  York, 
Princess  Ann,  and  Norfolk,  including  the  cities  of  Norfolk 
antl  Portsmouth,  and  which  excepted  parts  are,  for  the  pres- 
ent, left  precisely  as  if  this  proclamation  were  not  issued. 

And  by  virtue  of  the  power  and  for  the  purpose  aforesaid, 
I  do  order  and  declare  that  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within 
said  designated  States  and  parts  of  States  are,  and  hence- 
forward shall  be  free;  and  that  the  Executive  Government 
of  the  United  States,  including  the  military  and  naval 
authorities  thereof  will  recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom 
of  said  persons. 

And  I  hereby  enjoin  upon  the  people  so  declared  to  be 
free,  to  abstain  from  all  violence,  unless  in  necessary  self- 
defense,  and  I  recommend  to  them,  that  in  all  cases,  when 
allowed,  they  labor  faithfully  for  reasonable  wages. 

And  I  further  declare  and  make  known  that  such  persons 
of  suitable  condition  will  be  received  into  the  armed  service 
of  the  United  States  to  garrison  forts,  positions,  stations  and 
other  places,  and  to  man  vessels  of  all  sorts  in  said  service. 

And  upon  this,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of  justice, 
warranted  by  the  Constitution,  upon  military  necessity,  I 
invoke  the  considerate  judgment  of  mankind  and  the  gra- 
cious favor  of  Almighty  God. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and 
caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  first  day 
of  January  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 

[l.  s.]       eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  and  of  the  Inde- 
pendence of  the  United  States  of  America  the 
eighty-seventh. 
By  the  President :  Abraham  Lincoln. 

William  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State. 


254 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


It  is  fitting  also  to  mention  the  order  issued  by  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  in  response  to  an  appeal  made  to  him  by 
many  Christian  men,  in  regard  to  the  better  observance  of 
Sunday  as  a  day  of  rest  and  religious  devotion.  "  In  revo- 
lutionary times, "  this  reverence  for  the  day  can  seldom  be 
maintained  in  that  strictness  which  is  required  even  by 
human  laws :  but  that  a  great  improvement  in  this  respect 
was  practicable,  could  not  be  denied.  The  President's 
order  on  this  subject,  issued  on  the  16th  of  November,  1862, 
is  one  which  deserves  a  perpetual  remembrance.  It  is  here 
subjoined: 

The  President,  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  and 
NaAy,  desires  and  enjoins  the  orderly  observance  of  the 
Sabbath,  by  the  officers  and  men  in  the  military  and  naval 
service.  The  importance,  for  man  and  beast,  of  the  pre- 
scribed weekly  rest,  the  sacred  rights  of  Christian  soldiers 
and  sailors,  a  becoming  deference  to  the  best  sentiment  of  a 
Christian  people,  and  a  due  regard  for  the  Divine  will,  de- 
mand that  Sunday  labor  in  the  army  and  navy  be  reduced 
to  the  measure  of  strict  necessity. 

The  discipline  and  character  of  the  National  forces  should 
not  suffer,  nor  the  cause  they  defend  be  imperiled,  by  the 
profanation  of  the  day  or  name  of  the  Most  High.  "  At  this 
time  of  public  distress, "  adopting  the  words  of  Washington 
in  1776,  "  men  may  find  enough  to  do  in  the  service  of  God 
and  their  country,  without  abandoning  themselves  to  vice 
and  immorality."  The  first  general  order  issued  by  the 
Father  of  his  Country,  after  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, indicates  the  .spirit  in  which  our  institutions  were 
founded  and  should  ever  be  defended:  "The  General  hopes 
and  trusts  that  every  officer  and  man  will  endeavor  to  live 
and  act  as  becomes  a  Christian  soldier  defending  the  dear- 
est rights  and  liberties  of  his  country. " 

Abraham  Lincoln. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  255 

The  Thirty-seventh  Congress  convened,  for  its  last  ses- 
sion on  the  first  day  of  December,  1862.  The  annual  mes- 
sage of  the  President  was  transmitted  to  both  Houses  on 
that  day.  In  view  of  the  marked  events  of  the  preceding 
reason,  this  document  was  looked  for  with  unusual  interest ; 
nor  was  its  favorable  reception  disproportioned  to  the 
public  expectation.  The  material  portion  of  this  State 
paper  are  as  follows: 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Annual  Message,  1862. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives: Since  your  last  annual  assembling  another 
year  of  health  and  bountiful  harvests  has  passed.  And, 
while  it  has  not  pleased  the  Almighty  to  bless  us  with  a  re- 
turn of  peace,  we  can  but  press  on,  guided  by  the  best  light 
He  gives  us,  trusting  that,  in  His  own  good  time,  and  wise 
way,  all  will  yet  be  well.     *    *    * 

If  the  condition  of  our  relations  with  other  nations  is  less 
gratifying  than  it  has  usually  been  at  former  periods,  it  is 
certainly  more  satisfactory  than  a  nation  so  unhappily  dis- 
tracted as  we  are,  might  reasonably  have  apprehended.  In 
the  month  of  June  last  there  were  some  grounds  to  suspect 
that  the  maritime  powers  which,  at  the  beginning  of  our 
domestic  difficulties,  so  unwisely  and  unnecessarily,  as  we 
think,  recognized  the  insurgents  as  a  belligerent,  would 
soon  recede  from  that  position,  which  has  proved  only  less 
injurious  to  themselves  than  to  our  own  country.  But  the 
temporary  reverses  which  afterward  befell  the  National  arms 
and  which  were  exaggerated  by  our  own  disloyal  citizens 
abroad,  have  hitherto  delayed  that  act  of  simple  justice. 

The  civil  war,  which  has  so  radically  changed,  for  the 
moment,  the  occupations  and  habits  of  the  American  peo- 
ple, has  necessarily  disturbed  the  social  condition,  and 


256 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


affected  very  deeply  the  prosperity  of  the  nations  with  which 
we  have  carried  on  a  commerce  that  has  been  steadily  in- 
creasing throughout  a  period  of  half  a  century.  It  has,  at  the 
the  same  time,  excited  political  ambitions  and  ajsprehensions 
which  have  produced  a  profound  agitation  throughout  the 
civilized  world.  In  this  unusual  agitation  we  have  for- 
borne from  taking  part  in  any  controversy  between  foreign 
States,  and  between  parties  or  factions  in  such  States.  We 
have  attempted  no  propagandism,  and  acknowledged  no 
revolution.  But  we  have  left  to  every  nation  the  exclusive 
conduct  and  management  of  its  own  affairs.  Our  struggle 
has  been,  of  course,  contemplated  by  foreign  nations  vsdth 
reference  less  to  its  owti  merits,  than  to  its  supposed,  and 
often  exaggerated,  effects  and  consequences  resulting  to 
those  nations  themselves.  Nevertheless,  complaint  on  the 
part  of  this  Government,  even  if  it  were  just,  would  cer- 
tainly be  unwise. 

The  treaty  with  Great  Britain  for  the  suppression  of  the 
slave-trade  has  been  put  into  operation,  with  a  good  pros- 
pect of  complete  success.  It  is  an  occasion  of  special 
pleasure  to  acknowledge  that  the  execution  of  it,  on  the 
part  of  Her  Majesty's  Government,  has  been  marked  with 
a  jealous  respect  for  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  rights  of  their  moral  and  loyal  citizens.     *    *    * 

Applications  have  been  made  to  me  by  many  free  Ameri- 
cans of  African  descent  to  favor  their  emigration,  with  a 
view  to  such  colonization,  as  was  contemplated  in  recent 
acts  of  Congress.  Others  parties,  at  home  and  abroad — 
some  from  interested  motives,  others  upon  patriotic  con- 
siderations and  still  others  influenced  by  philanthropic 
sentiments — have  suggested  similar  measures;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  several  of  the  Spanish-American  republics 
have  protested  against  the  sending  of  such  colonies  to  their 
respective  territories.    Under  these  circumstances,  I  ha^  e 


^._^^^^^^*ii^;^g£>i. 


5,       5  ,    rAXojVy^ 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  257 

declined  to  move  any  such  colony  to  any  State  without 
first  obtaining  the  consent  of  its  government,  with  an  agree- 
ment on  its  part  to  receive  and  protect  such  emigrants  in  all 
the  rights  of  freemen;  and  I  have, at  the  same  time, offered 
to  the  several  States  situated  within  the  tropics,  or  having 
colonies  there,  to  negotiate  with  them,  subject  to  the  ad- 
vice and  consent  of  the  Senate,  to  favor  the  voluntary 
emigration  of  persons  of  that  class  to  their  respective  ter- 
ritories upon  conditions  which  shall  be  equal,  just  and  hu- 
mane. Liberia  and  Hayti  are,  as  yet,  the  only  countries  to 
which  colonists  of  African  descent  from  here  could  go  with 
certainty  of  being  received  and  adopted  as  citizens;  and  I 
regret  to  say  such  persons,  contemplating  colonization,  do 
not  seem  so  willing  to  migrate  to  those  countries,  as  to  some 
others,  nor  so  willing  as  I  think  their  interest  demands.  I 
believe,  however,  opinion]  among  them  in  this  respect,  is 
improving;  and  that,  ere  long,  there  will  be  an  augmented 
and  considerable  migration  to  both  these  countries,  from 
the  United  States.    *    *    * 

I  have  favored  the  project  for  connecting  the  United 
States  with  Europe  by  an  Atlantic  telegraph,  and  a  similar 
project  to  extend  the  telegraph  from  San  Francisco,  to 
connect  by  a  Pacific  telegraph  with  the  line  which  is  being 
extended  across  the  Russian  empire. 

The  Territories  of  the  United  States,  with  unimportant 
exceptions,  have  remained  undisturbed  by  the  civil  war; 
and  they  are  exhibiting  such  evidence  of  prosperity  as 
justifies  an  expectation  that  some  of  them  will  soon  be  in  a 
condition  to  be  organized  as  States,  and  be  constitutionally 
admitted  into  the  Federal  Union. 

The  immense  mineral  resources  of  some  of  those  Terri- 
tories ought  to  be  developed  as  rapidly  as  possible.  Every 
step  in  that  direction  would  have  a  tendency  to  improve  the 
revenues  of  the  Government,  and  diminish  the  burdens  of  the 


.J 


258  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

people.  It  is  worthy  of  your  serious  consideration  whether 
some  extraordinary  measures  to  promote  that  end  caimot 
be  adopted.  The  means  which  suggest  itself  as  most  Ukely 
to  be  effective,  is  a  scientific  exploration  of  the  mineral 
regions  in  those  Territories,  with  a  view  to  the  publication 
of  its  results  at  home  and  in  foreign  countries — results 
which  cannot  fail  to  be  auspicious.  The  condition  of  the 
finances  will  claim  your  most  diligent  consideration.  The 
vast  expenditures  incident  to  the  military  and  naval  opera- 
tions required  for  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion,  have 
hitherto  been  met  with  a  promptitude  and  certainty 
unusual  in  similar  circumstances;  and  the  public  credit 
has  been  fully  maintained.  The  continuance  of  the  war, 
however,  and  the  increased  disbursements  made  necessary 
by  the  augmented  forces  now  in  the  field,  demand  your 
best  reflections  as  to  the  best  modes  of  providing  the 
necessary  revenue,  without  injury  to  business,  and  with 
the  least  possible  burdens  upon  labor. 

The  suspension  of  specie  payments  by  the  banks,  soon 
after  the  commencement  of  your  last  session,  made  large 
issues  of  United  States  notes  unavoidable.  In  no  other 
way  could  the  payment  of  the  troops,  and  the  satisfaction 
of  other  just  demands,  be  so  economically,  or  so  well  pro- 
vided for.  The  judicious  legislation  of  Congress,  securing 
the  receivability  of  these  notes  for  loans  and  internal  duties, 
and  making  them  a  legal  tender  for  other  debts,  has  made 
them  an  universal  currency;  and  has  satisfied,  partially,  at 
least,  and  for  the  time,  the  long  felt  want  of  an  uniform 
circulating  medium,  saving  thereby  to  the  people  im- 
mense sums  in  discounts  and  exchanges. 

A  return  to  specie  payments,  however,  at  the  earliest 
period  compatible  with  due  regard  to  all  interests  con- 
cerned, should  ever  be  kept  in  view.  Fluctuations  in  the 
value  of  currency  are  always  injurious,  and  to  reduce  these 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  259 

fluctuations  to  the  lowest  possible  point  will  always  be  a 
leading  purpose  in  wise  legislation.  Convertibility,  prompt 
and  certain  convertibility  into  coin,  is  generally  acknowl- 
edged to  be  the  best  and  the  surest  safeguard  against  them ; 
and  it  is  extremely  doubtful  whether  a  circulation  of 
United  States  notes,  payable  in  coin,  and  sufficiently  large 
for  the  wants  of  the  people,  can  be  permanently,  usefully 
and  safely  maintained. 

Is  there,  then,  any  other  mode  in  which  the  necessary 
provision  for  the  public  wants  can  be  made,  and  the  great 
advantages  of  a  safe  and  uniform  currency  secured? 

I  laiow  of  none  which  promises  so  certain  results,  and  is, 
at  the  same  time,  so  unobjectionable,  as  the  organization  of 
banking  associations,  under  a  general  act  of  Congress,  well 
guarded  in  its  provisions.  To  such  associations  the  Gov- 
ernment might  furnish  circulating  notes,  on  the  security 
of  the  United  States  bonds  deposited  in  the  treasury.  These 
notes,  prepared  under  the  supervision  of  proper  officers, 
being  uniform  in  appearance  and  security,  and  convertible 
always  into  coin,  would  at  once  protect  labor  against  the 
evils  of  a  vicious  currency,  and  facilitate  commerce  by 
cheap  and  safe  exchanges. 

A  moderate  reservation  from  the  interest  on  the  bonds 
would  compensate  the  United  States  for  the  preparation  and 
distribution  of  the  notes,  and  a  general  supervision  of  the 
system,  and  would  lighten  the  burden  of  that  part  of  the 
pubUc  debt  employed  as  securities.  The  public  credit, 
moreover,  would  be  greatly  improved,  and  the  negotiation 
of  new  loans  greatly  facilitated  by  the  steady  market  de- 
mand for  Government  bonds  which  the  adoption  of  the 
proposed  system  would  create. 

It  is  an  additional  recommendation  of  the  measure  of 
considerable  weight,  in  my  judgment,  that  it  would  recon- 
cile, as  far  as  possible,  all  existing  interests,  by  the  oppor- 


260  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

tuiiity  offered  to  existing  institutions  to  reorganize  under 
the  act,  substituting  only  the  secured  uniform  national 
circulation  for  the  local  and  various  circulations,  secured 
and  unsecured,  now  issued  by  them. 

The  receipts  into  the  treasury,  from  all  sources,  including 
loans,  and  balance  from  the  preceding  year,  for  the  fiscal 
year  ending  on  the  30th  June,  1862,  were  $583,885,247.06, 
of  which  sum  $-49,056,397.62  were  derived  from  customs; 
$1,795,331.73  from  the  direct  tax;  from  public  lands 
$152,203.77;  from  miscellaneous  sources,  $931,787.64; 
from  loans  in  all  forms,  $529,692,460.50.  The  remainder 
$2,257,065.80,  was  the  balance  from  the  last  year. 

The  disbursements  during  the  same  period  were :  for  con- 
gressional, executive,  and  judicial  purposes,  $5,939,009.29; 
for  foreign  intercourse,  $1,339,710.35;  for  miscellaneous 
expenses,  including  the  mints,  loans,  post  office  deficiencies, 
collection  of  revenue,  and  other  like  charges,  $14,129,771.50; 
for  expenses  under  the  Interior  Department,  $3,102,- 
985.52;  under  the  War  Department,  $394,368,407.36; 
under  the  Navy  Department,  $42,674,569.69;  for  interest 
on  public  debt,  $13,190,324.45;  and  for  payment  of  public 
debt,  including  reimbursement  of  temporary  loan,  and  re- 
demptions, $96,096,922.09;  making  an  aggregate  of  $570,- 
841,700.25,  and  leaving  a  balance  in  the  treasury  on  the 
first  day  of  July,  1862,  of  $13,043,546.81. 

It  should  be  observed  that  the  sum  of  $96,096,922.09,  ex- 
pended for  reimbursements  and  redemption  of  public  debt, 
being  included  also  in  the  loans  made,  may  be  properly 
deducted,  both  from  receipts  and  expenditures,  leaving  the 
actual  receipts  for  the  year,  $487,788,324.97;  and  the 
expenditures,  $474,744,778.16.     *    *    * 

On  the  22d  day  of  September  last  a  proclamation  was 
issued  by  the  Executive,  a  copy  of  which  is  herewith  sub- 
mitted. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  261 

In  accordance  with  the  purpose  expressed  in  the  second 
paragraph  of  that  paper,  I  now  respectfully  call  your 
attention  to  what  may  be  called  "compensated  emancipa- 
tion." 

A  nation  may  be  said  to  consist  of  its  territory,  its  people 
and  its  laws.  The  territory  is  the  only  part  which  is  of 
certain  durability.  "One  generation  passeth  away  and 
another  generation  cometh,  but  the  earth  abideth  forever." 
It  is  of  the  first  importance  to  duly  consider,  and  estimate, 
this  ever-enduring  part.  That  portion  of  the  earth's  sur- 
face which  is  owned  and  inhabited  by  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  is  well  adapted  to  be  the  home  of  one  national 
family;  and  it  is  not  well  adapted  for  two,  or  more.  Its 
vast  extent,  and  its  variety  of  climate  and  productions, 
are  of  advantage,  in  this  age,  for  one  people,  whatever  they 
might  have  been  in  former  ages.  Steam,  telegraphs  and 
intelligence  have  brought  these  to  be  an  advantageous 
combination  for  one  united  people. 

In  the  inaugural  address  I  briefly  pointed  out  the  total 
inadequacy  of  disunion,  as  a  remedy  for  the  differences 
between  the  people  of  the  two  sections.  I  did  so  in  language 
which  I  can  not  improve,  and  which,  therefore,  I  beg  to 
repeat : 

"One  section  of  our  country  believes  Slavery  is  right, 
and  ought  to  be  extended,  while  the  other  believes  it  is 
wrong,  and  ought  not  to  be  extended.  This  is  the  only 
substantial  dispute.  The  fugitive  slave  clause  of  the  Con- 
stitution, and  the  law  for  the  suppression  of  the  foreign 
slave-trade,  are  each  as  well  enforced,  perhaps,  as  any  law 
can  ever  be  in  a  community  where  the  moral  sense  of  the 
jjeople  imperfectly  supports  the  law  itself.  The  great  body 
of  the  people  abide  by  the  dry  legal  obligation  in  both  cases, 
and  a  few  break  over  in  each.  This,  I  think,  can  not  be 
perfectly  cured;  and  it  would  be  worse  in  both  cases  after 


262  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

the  separation  of  the  sections,  than  before.  The  foreign 
slave-trade,  now  imperfectly  suppressed,  would  be  ulti- 
mately revived  without  restriction  in  one  section;  while 
fugitive  slaves,  now  only  partially  surrendered,  would  not 
be  surrendered  at  all  by  the  other. 

"Physically  speaking,  we  can  not  seperate.  We  can 
not  remove  our  respective  sections  from  each  other,  nor 
build  an  impassable  wall  between  them.  A  husband  and  wife 
may  be  divorced,  and  go  out  of  the  presence,  and  beyond 
the  reach  of  each  other;  but  the  different  parts  of  our 
country  can  not  do  this.  They  cannot  but  remain  face  to 
face;  and  intercourse,  either  amicable  or  hostile,  must  con- 
tinue between  them.  Is  it  possible,  then,  to  make  that 
intercourse  more  advantageous,  or  more  satisfactory,  ajter 
separation  than  hejorc?  Can  aliens  make  treaties  easier 
than  friends  can  make  laws?  Can  treaties  be  more 
faithfully  enforced  between  aliens,  than  laws  can  among 
friends?  Suppose  you  go  to  war,  you  cannot  fight  always; 
and  when,  after  much  loss  on  both  sides,  and  no  gain  on 
either,  you  cease  fighting,  the  identical  old  questions,  as 
to  terms  of  intercourse,  are  again  upon  you." 

There  is  no  line,  straight  or  crooked,  suitable  for  a 
National  boundary,  upon  which  to  divide.  Trace  through, 
from  east  to  west,  upon  the  line  between  the  free  and 
slave  country,  and  we  shall  find  a  little  more  than  one- 
third  of  its  length  are  rivers,  easy  to  be  crossed,  and 
populated,  or  soon  to  be  populated,  thickly,  upon  both 
sides;  while  nearly  all  its  remaining  length  are  merely 
surveyors'  lines,  over  which  people  may  walk  back  and 
forth  without  any  consciousness  of  their  presence.  No 
part  of  this  line  can  be  made  any  more  difficult  to  pass, 
by  writing  it  down  on  paper,  or  parchment,  as  a  national 
boundary.  The  fact  of  separation,  if  it  comes,  gives  up, 
on  the  part  of  the  seceding  section,  the  fugitive  slave 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  263 

clause,  along  with  all  other  constitutional  obligations 
upon  the  section  seceded  from,  while  I  should  expect 
no  treaty  stipulation  would  ever  be  made  to  take  its  place. 
But  there  is  another  difficulty.  The  great  interior 
region,  bounded  east  by  the  Alleghanies,  north  by  the 
British  Dominions,  west  by  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and 
south  by  the  line  along  which  the  culture  of  corn  and 
cotton  meets,  and  which  includes  part  of  Virginia,  part 
of  Tennessee,  all  of  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan, 
Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Missouri,  Kansas,  Iowa,  Minnesota, 
and  the  Territories  of  Dakota,  Nebraska,  and  part  of  Col- 
orado, already  has  above  ten  millions  of  people,  and  will 
have  fifty  millions  within  fifty  years,  if  not  prevented  by 
any  political  folly  or  mistake.  It  contains  more  than 
one-third  of  the  country  owned  by  the  United  States — 
certainly  more  than  one  million  of  square  miles.  Once 
half  as  populous  as  Massachusetts  already  is,  it  would 
have  more  than  seventy-five  millions  of  people.  A  glance 
at  the  map  shows  that,  territorially  speaking,  it  is  the 
great  body  of  the  Republic.  The  other  parts  are  but 
marginal  borders  to  it.  The  magnificent  region  sloping 
west  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific,  being  the 
deepest,  and  also  the  richest,  in  undeveloped  resources. 
In  the  production  of  provisions,  grains,  grasses,  and  all 
which  proceed  from  them,  this  great  interior  region  is 
naturally  one  of  the  most  important  in  the  world.  Ascer- 
tain from  the  statistics  the  small  proportion  of  the  region 
which  has,  as  yet,  been  brought  into  cultivation,  and  also  the 
large  and  rapidly  increasing  amount  of  its  products, 
and  we  shall  be  overwhelmed  with  the  magnitude  of 
the  prospect  presented.  And  yet  this  region  has  no 
sea-coast,  touches  no  ocean  anywhere.  As  part  of  one 
nation,  its  people  now  find,  and  may  forever  find,  their 
way  to  Europe  by  New  York,  to  South  America  and 


264  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Africa  by  New  Orleans,  and  to  Asia  by  San  Francisco. 
But  separate  our  common  country  into  two  nations,  as 
designed  by  the  present  rebellion,  and  every  man  of  this 
great  interior  region  is  thereby  cut  off  from  some  one  or 
more  of  these  outlets,  not,  perhaps,  by  a  physical  barrier, 
but  by  embarrassing  and  onerous  trade  regulations. 

And  this  is  true,  wherever  a  dividing  or  boimdary 
line  may  be  fixed.  Place  it  between  the  now  free  and 
slave  country,  or  place  it  south  of  Kentucky,  or  north  of 
Ohio,  and  still  the  truth  remains,  that  none  south  of  it 
can  trade  to  any  port  or  place  north  of  it,  and  none  north 
of  it  can  trade  to  any  port  or  place  south  of  it,  except 
upon  terms  dictated  by  a  government  foreign  to  them. 
These  outlets,  east,  west,  and  south,  are  indispensable 
to  the  well-being  of  the  people  inhabiting,  and  to  inhabit, 
this  vast  interior  region.  Which  of  the  three  may  be 
the  best,  is  no  proper  question.  All  are  better  than 
either;  and  all,  of  right,  belong  to  that  people,  and  to 
their  successors  forever.  True  to  themselves,  they  will 
not  ask  where  a  line  of  separation  shall  be,  but  will  vow, 
rather,  that  there  shall  be  no  such  line.  Nor  are  the 
marginal  regions  less  interested  in  these  communications  to 
them  and  through  them  to  the  great  outside  world.  They, 
too,  and  each  of  them,  must  have  access  to  this  Eg3'pt 
of  the  West,  without  paying  toll  at  the  crossing  of  any 
national   boundary. 

Our  National  strife  springs  not  from  our  permanent 
part;  not  from  the  land  we  inhabit;  not  from  our  National 
homestead.  There  is  no  possible  severing  of  this,  but 
would  multiply,  and  not  mitigate,  evils  among  us.  In 
all  its  adaptations  and  aptitudes,  it  demands  union,  and 
abhors  separation.  In  fact,  it  would,  ere  long,  force 
reunion,  however  much  of  blood  and  treasure  the  separa- 
tion might  have  cost. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  265 

Our  strife  pertains  to  ourselves — to  the  passing  genera- 
tions of  men;  and  it  can,  without  convulsion,  be  hushed 
forever  with  the  passing  of  one  generation. 

In  this  view,  I  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  follow- 
ing resolution  and  articles  amendatory  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States: 

"Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled, 
(two-thirds  of  both  Houses  concurring,)  That  the  follow- 
ing articles  be  proposed  to  the  Legislatures  (or  conventions) 
of  the  several  States  as  amendments  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  all  or  any  of  which  articles,  when 
ratified  by  three-fourths  of  the  said  Legislatures  (or  con- 
ventions), to  be  valid  as  part  or  parts  of  the  said  Con- 
stitution,   viz. : 

"  Article  — .  Every  State,  wherein  slavery  now  exists, 
which  shall  abolish  the  same  therein,  at  any  time,  or 
times,  before  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  and  nine  hundred,  shall  receive  com- 
pensation  from   the   United   States   as   follows,    to-wit: 

"The  President  of  the  United  States  shall  deliver,  to 
every  such  State,  bonds  of  the  United  States,  bearing 

interest  at  the  rate  of per  cent,  per  annum,  to   an 

amount  equal  to  the  aggregate  sum  of  for  each 

slave  shown  to  have  been  therein,  by  the  eighth  census 
of  the  United  States,  said  bonds  to  be  delivered  to  such 
State  by  installments,  or  in  one  parcel,  at  the  completion 
of  the  abolishment,  accordingly  as  the  same  shall  have  been 
gradual,  or  at  one  time,  within  such  State;  and  interest 
shall  begin  to  run  upon  any  such  bond,  only  from  the 
proper  time  of  its  delivery  as  aforesaid.  Any  State, 
having  received  bonds  as  aforesaid,  and  afterward  re-in- 
troducing or  tolerating  slavery  therein,  shall  refund  to 


266  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

the  United  States  the  bonds  so  received,  or  the  value 
thereof,  and  all  interest  paid  thereon. 

"Article  — .  All  slaves  who  shall  have  enjoyed 
actual  freedom  by  the  chances  of  the  war,  at  any  time 
before  the  end  of  the  rebelhon,  shall  be  forever  free,  but 
all  owners  of  such,  who  shall  not  have  been  disloyal,  shall 
be  compensated  for  them,  at  the  same  rates  as  is  provided 
for  States  adopting  abolishment  of  slavery,  but  in  such 
way  that  no  slave  shall  be  twice  accounted  for. 

"  Article  — .  Congress  may  appropriate  money,  and 
otherwise  pro^^de  for  colonizing  free  colored  persons, 
with  their  own  consent,  at  any  place  or  places  without 
the  United  States." 

I  beg  indulgence  to  cUscuss  these  proposed  articles 
at  some  length.  Without  slavery  the  rebellion  could 
never  have  existed;  without  slavery  it  could  not  con- 
tinue. 

Among  the  friends  of  the  Union,  there  is  great  diversity 
of  sentiment,  and  of  police,  in  i-egard  to  slaver}^,  and  the 
African  race  among  us.  Some  would  perpetuate  slavery; 
some  would  abolish  it  suddenly,  and  without  compensa- 
tion :  some  would  abolish  it  gradually,  and  with  compensa- 
tion; some  would  remove  the  freed  people  from  us,  and 
some  would  retain  them  with  us;  and  there  are  yet 
other  minor  diversities.  Because  of  these  divei'sities,  we 
waste  much  strength  in  struggles  among  ourselves.  By 
mutual  concession  we  should  harmonize,  and  act  together. 
This  would  be  compromise;  but  it  would  be  compromise 
among  the  friends,  and  not  with  the  enemies  of  the  Union. 
These  articles  are  intended  to  embody  a  plan  of  such 
mutual  concessions.  If  the  plan  shall  be  adopted,  it  is 
assumed  that  emancipation  will  follow,  at  least  iu  several 
of  the  States. 

As  to  the  first  article,  the  main  points  are:  first,  the 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  267 

emancipation;  secondly,  the  length  of  time  for  consum- 
mating it — thirty-seven  years;  and  thirdly,  the  com- 
pensation. 

The  emancipation  will  be  unsatisfactory  to  the  advocates 
of  perpetual  slavery;  but  the  length  of  time  should  greatly 
mitigate  their  dissatisfaction.  The  time  spares  both 
races  from  the  evils  of  sudden  derangement — in  fact, 
from  the  necessity  of  any  derangement — while  most 
of  those  whose  habitual  course  of  thought  will  be  disturbed 
by  the  measure,  will  have  passed  away  before  its  consum- 
mation. They  will  never  see  it.  Another  class,  will 
hail  the  prospect  of  emancipation,  but  will  deprecate 
the  length  of  time.  They  will  feel  that  it  gives  too 
little  to  the  now  living  slaves.  But  it  really  gives  them 
much.  It  saves  them  from  the  vagrant  destitution 
which  must  largely  attend  immediate"  emancipation 
in  localities  where  their  numbers  are  very  great;  and  it 
gives  the  inspiring  assurance  that  their  posterity  shall 
be  free  forever.  The  plan  leaves  to  each  State,  choosing 
to  act  under  it,  to  abolish  slavery  now,  or  at  the  end  of 
the  century,  or  at  any  intermediate  time,  or  by  degrees, 
extending  over  the  whole  or  any  part  of  the  period;  and 
it  obliges  no  two  States  to  proceed  alike.  It  also  provides 
for  compensation,  and,  generally,  the  mode  of  making 
it.  This,  it  would  seem,  must  further  mitigate  the  dissatis- 
faction of  those  who  favor  perpetual  slavery,  and  especially 
of  those  who  are  to  receive  the  compensation.  Doubtless, 
some  of  those  who  are  to  pay,  and  not  to  receive,  will 
object.  Yet  the  measure  is  both  just  and  economical. 
In  a  certain  sense,  the  liberation  of  slaves  is  the  destruc- 
tion of  property — property  acquired  by  descent,  or  by 
purchase,  the  same  as  any  other  property.  It  is  no  less 
true  for  having  been  often  said,  that  the  people  of  the 
South  are  not  more  responsible  for  the  original  introduc- 


268  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

tion  of  this  property,  than  are  the  people  of  the  North: 
and  when  it  is  remembered  how  unhesitatingly  we  all 
use  cotton  and  sugar  and  share  the  profits  of  dealing 
in  them,  it  may  not  be  quite  safe  to  say,  that  the  South 
has  been  more  responsible  than  the  North  for  its  con- 
tinuance. If,  then,  for  a  common  object,  this  property 
is  to  be  sacrificed,  is  it  not  just  that  it  be  done  at  a  com- 
mon charge? 

And  if,  with  less  money,  or  money  more  easily  paid, 
we  can  preserve  the  benefits  of  the  Union  by  this  means, 
better  than  we  can  by  the  war  alone,  is  it  not  also  economical 
to  do  it?  Let  us  consider  it  then.  Let  us  ascertain  the 
sum  we  have  expended  in  the  war  since  compensated 
emancipation  was  proposed  last  March,  and  consider 
whether,  if  that  measure  had  peen  promptly  accepted, 
by  even  some  of  the  slave  States,  the  same  sum 
would  not  have  done  more  to  close  the  war,  than 
has  been  otherwise  done.  If  so,  the  measure  would 
save  money,  and  in  that  \dew,  would  be  a  prudent 
and  economical  measure.  Certainly  it  is  not  so  easy  to  pay 
something  as  it  is  to  pay  nothing;  but  it  is  easier  to  pay  a 
large  sum,  than  it  is  to  pay  a  larger  one.  And  it  is  easier  to 
pay  any  sum  when  we  are  able,  than  it  is  to  pay  it  before 
we  are  able.  The  war  requires  large  sums,  and  requires 
them  at  once.  The  aggregate  sum  necessary  for  com- 
pensated emancipation,  of  course,  would  be  large.  But  it 
would  require  no  ready  cash;  nor  the  bonds  even,  any 
faster  than  the  emancipation  progresses.  This  might  not, 
and  probably  would  not,  close  before  the  end  of  the  thirty- 
seven  years.  At  that  time  we  shall  probably  have  a  hun- 
dred millions  of  people  to  share  the  burden,  instead  of 
thirty-one  millions,  as  now.  And  not  only  so,  but  the  in- 
crease of  our  population  may  be  expected  to  continue  for  a 
long  time  after  that  period,  as  rapidly  as  before ;  because 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  269 

our  territory  will  not  have  become  full.  I  do  not  state 
this  inconsiderately.  At  the  same  ratio  of  increase  which 
we  have  maintained,  on  an  average,  from  our  first  National 
census,  in  1790,  until  that  of  1860,  we  should,  in  1900,  have 
a  population  of  103,208,415.  And  why  may  we  not  con- 
tinue that  ratio  far  beyond  that  period?  Our  abundant 
room — our  broad  National  homestead — is  our  ample  re- 
source. Were  our  territory  as  limited  as  are  the  British 
Isles,  very  certainly  our  population  could  not  expand  as 
stated.  Instead  of  receiving  the  foreign  born,  as  now,  we 
should  be  compelled  to  send  part  of  the  native  born  away. 
But  such  is  not  our  condition.  We  have  two  millions  nine 
hundred  and  sixty-three  thousand  square  miles.  Europe 
has  three  millions  eight  hundred  thousand,  with  a  popu- 
lation averaging  seventy-three  and  one-third  persons  to  the 
square  mile.  Why  may  not  our  country,  at  some  time, 
average  as  many?  Is  it  less  fertile?  Has  it  more  waste 
surface,  by  mountains,  rivers,  lakes,  deserts,  or  other 
causes?  Is  it  inferior  to  Europe  in  any  natural  advantage? 
If,  then,  we  are,  at  some  time,  to  be  as  populous  as  Europe, 
how  soon?  As  to  when  this  may  be,  we  can  judge  by  the 
past  antl  the  present;  as  to  when  it  will  be,  if  ever,  depends 
nmch  on  whether  we  maintain  the  Union.  Several  of 
our  States  are  already  above  the  average  of  Europe — sev- 
enty-three and  a  third  to  the  square  mile.  Massachu.setts 
has  155;  Rhode  Island,  133;  Connecticut,  99;  New  York 
and  New  Jersey,  each,  80.  Also  two  other  great  States, 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  are  not  far  below,  the  former  having 
ing  63  and  the  latter  59.  Tlie  States  already  above  the 
European  average,  except  New  York,  have  increased  in  as 
rapid  a  ratio,  since  passing  that  point,  as  ever  before; 
while  no  one  of  them  is  equal  to  some  other  parts  of  our 
country,  in  natural  capacity  for  sustaining  a  dense  popula- 
tion. 


270  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Taking  the  nation  in  the  aggregate,  and  we  find  its  popu- 
lation and  ratio  of  increase,  for  tlie  several  decennial 
periods,  to  be  as  follows: 

1790 3,929,827 

1800 5,305,937    35.02  per  cent,  ratio  of  increase. 

1810 7,239,814    36.45       " 

1820 9,638,131     33.13       "   ^ 

1830 12,866,020    33.49       " 

1840 17,069,457     32.67       "  " 

1850 23,191,876    35.87      " 

1860 31,443,790    35.58       " 

This  shows  an  average  decennial  increase  of  34.60  per 
cent,  in  population  through  the  seventy  years  from  our  first, 
to  our  last  census  yet  taken.  It  is  seen  that  the  ratio  of 
increase,  at  no  one  of  these  seven  periods,  is  either  two  per 
cent,  below,  or  two  per  cent,  above,  the  average,  thus  show- 
ing how  inflexible,  and,  consequently,  how  reliable,  the  law 
of  increase,  in  our  case,  is.  Assuming  that  it  will  continue, 
gives  the  following  results: 

1870   ■  42,323,341 

1880  56,967,216 

1890   . 76,677,872 

1900 103,208,415 

1910   138,918,520 

1920   •• 186,984,335 

1930   251,680,914 

These  figures  show  that  our  country  may  be  as  populous 
as  Europe  now  is,  at  some  point  between  1920  and  1930 — 
say  about  1925 — our  territory,  at  seventy-three  and  a  third 
persons  to  the  square  mile,  being  the  capacity  to  contain 
217,186,000. 

And  we  luill  reach  this,  too,  if  we  do  not  ourselves  relin- 
quish the  chance,  by  the  folly  and  evil  of  disunion,  or  by 
long  and  exhausting  war,  springing  from  the  only  great 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  271 

element  of  National  discord  among  us.  AMiile  it  cannot  be 
foreseen  exactly  how  much  one  huge  example  of  secession 
breeding  lesser  ones  indefinitely,  would  retard  population, 
civilization  and  prosperity,  no  one  can  doubt  that  the  ex- 
tent of  it  would  be  very  great  and  injurious. 

The  proposed  emancipation  would  shorten  the  war,  per- 
petuate peace,  insure  this  increase  of  population,  and  pro- 
portionately the  wealth  of  the  country.  With  these,  we 
should  pay  all  the  emancipation  would  cost,  together  with 
our  other  debt,  easier  than  we  should  pay  our  other  debt 
without  it.  If  we  had  allowed  our  old  National  debt  to  run 
at  six  per  cent,  per  annum,  simple  interest,  from  the  end  of 
our  Revolutionary  struggle  until  to-day,  without  paying 
anything  on  either  principal  or  interest,  each  man  of  us 
would  owe  less  upon  that  debt  now,  than  each  man  owed 
upon  it  then;  and  this  because  our  increase  of  men,  through 
the  whole  period,  has  been  greater  than  six  per  cent,; 
has  run  faster  than  the  interest  upon  the  debt.  Thus, 
time  alone  relieves  a  debtor  nation,  so  long  as  its  popula- 
tion increases  faster  than  unpaid  interest  accumulates  on 
its  debt. 

This  fact  would  be  no  excuse  for  delaying  payment  of 
what  is  justly  due;  but  it  shows  the  great  importance  of 
time  in  this  connection — the  great  advantage  of  a  policy  by 
which  we  shall  not  have  to  pay  until  we  number  a  hundred 
millions,  what,  by  a  different  policy,  we  would  have  to  pay 
now,  when  we  number  but  thirty-one  millions.  In  a  word, 
it  shows  that  a  dollar  will  be  much  harder  to  pay  for  the  war, 
than  will  be  a  dollar  for  emancipation  on  the  proposed  plan. 
And  then  the  latter  will  cost  no  blood,  no  precious  life.  It 
will  be  a  saving  of  both. 

As  to  the  second  article,  I  think  it  would  be  impracticable 
to  return  to  bondage  the  class  of  persons  therein  contem- 
plated.    Some  of  them,  doubtless,  in  the  property  sense, 


272  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

belong  to  loyal  owners;  and  hence,  provision  is  made  in 
this  article  for  compensating  such. 

The  third  article  relates  to  the  future  of  the  freed  people. 
It  does  not  oblige,  but  merely  authorizes  Congress  to  aid  in 
colonizing  such  as  may  consent.  This  ought  not  to  be  re- 
garded as  objectionable,  on  the  one  hand,  or  on  the  other, 
in  so  much  as  it  comes  to  nothing,  unless  by  the  mutual 
consent  of  the  people  to  be  deported,  and  the  American 
voters,  through  their  representatives  in  Congress. 

I  can  not  make  it  better  known  than  it  already  is, 
that  I  strongly  favor  colonization.  And  yet  I  wish  to 
say  there  is  an  objection  urged  against  free  colored 
persons  remaining  in  the  country,  which  is  largely  imagi- 
nary, if  not  sometimes  malicious. 

It  is  insisted  that  their  presence  would  injure,  and 
displace  white  labor  and  white  laborers.  If  there  ever 
could  be  a  proper  time  for  mere  catch  arguments  that 
time  surely  is  not  now.  In  times  like  the  present,  men 
should  utter  nothing  for  which  they  would  not  willingly 
be  responsible  through  time  and  in  eternity.  Is  it  true, 
then,  that  colored  people  can  displace  any  more  white 
labor  by  being  free,  than  by  remaining  slaves?  If  they 
stay  in  their  old  places,  they  jostle  no  white  laborers; 
if  they  leave  their  old  places,  they  leave  them  open  to 
white  laborers.  Logically,  there  is  neither  more  nor 
less  of  it.  Emancipation,  even  without  deportation, 
would  probably  enhance  the  wages  of  white  labor,  and, 
very  surely,  would  not  reduce  them.  Thus,  the  customary 
amount  of  labor  would  still  have  to  be  performed;  the 
freed  people  would  surely  not  do  more  than  their  old 
proportion  of  it,  and  very  probably,  for  a  time,  would 
do  less,  leaving  an  increased  part  to  white  laborers,  bring- 
ing their  labor  into  greater  demand,  and,  consequently, 
enhancing  the  wages  of  it.     With  deportation,  even  to 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  273 

a  limited  extent,  enhanced  wages  to  white  labor  is  mathe- 
matically certain.  Labor  is  like  any  other  commodity 
in  the  market— increase  the  demand  for  it,  and  you 
increase  the  price  of  it.  Reduce  the  supply  of  black 
labor,  by  colonizing  the  black  laborer  out  of  the  country 
and,  by  precisely  so  much,  you  increase  the  demand  for, 
and  wages  of,  white  labor. 

But  it  is  dreaded  that  the  freed  people  will  swarm 
forth  and  cover  the  whole  land?  Are  they  not  already  in 
the  land?  Will  liberation  make  them  any  more  numerous? 
Equally  distributed  among  the  whites  of  the  whole  country, 
and  there  would  be  but  one  colored  to  seven  whites. 
Could  the  one,  in  any  way,  greatly  disturb  the  seven? 
There  are  many  communities  now,  having  more  than  one 
free  colored  person  to  seven  whites;  and  this  without 
any  apparent  consciousness  of  evil  from  it.  The  District 
of  Columbia,  and  the  States  of  Maryland  and  Delaware, 
are  all  in  this  condition.  The  District  has  more  than 
one  free  colored  to  six  whites;  and  yet,  in  its  frequent 
petitions  to  Congress,  I  believe  it  has  never  presented 
the  presence  of  free  colored  persons  as  one  of  its  grievances. 
But  why  should  emancipation  South  send  the  freed 
people  North?  People,  of  any  color,  seldom  run  luiless 
there  be  something  to  run  from.  Heretofore,  colored 
people,  to  some  extent,  have  fled  North  from  bondage; 
and  now,  perhaps,  from  both  bondage  and  destitution. 
But  if  gradual  emancipation  and  deportation  be  adopted, 
they  will  have  neither  to  fiee  from.  Their  old  masters 
will  give  them  wages,  at  least  until  new  laborers  can  be 
procured;  and  the  freed  men,  in  turn,  will  gladly  give 
their  labor  for  the  wages,  till  new  homes  can  be  found 
for  them,  in  congenial  climes,  and  with  people  of  their 
own  blood  and  race.  This  proposition  can  be  trusted 
on  the  mutual  interests  involved.    And,  in  any  event, 


274  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Ciin  not  the  North  decide  for  itself,  whether  to  receive 
them? 

Again,  as  practice  proves  more  than  theory,  in  any 
case,  has  there  been  any  irruption  of  colored  people 
northward,  because  of  the  abolishment  of  slavery  in  this 
District  last  spring? 

What  I  have  said  of  the  proportion  of  free  colored 
persons  to  the  whites,  in  the  District,  is  from  the  census 
of  1860,  having  no  reference  to  persons  called  contra- 
bands, nor  to  those  made  free  by  the  act  of  Congress 
abolishing  slavery  here. 

The  plan  consisting  of  these  articles  is  recommended, 
not  but  that  a  restoration  of  the  National  authority 
would  be  accepted  without  its  adoption. 

Nor  will  the  war.  nor  proceedings  under  the  proclama- 
tion of  September  22,  1862,  be  stayed  because  of  the 
recommendation  of  this  plan.  Its  timely  ado-ption,  I 
doubt  not,  would  bring  restoration,  and  thereby  stay 
both. 

And,  notwithstanding  this  plan,  the  recommendation 
that  Congress  provide  by  law  for  compensating  any 
State  which  may  adopt  emancipation  before  this  plan  shall 
have  been  acted  upon,  is  hereby  earnestly  renewed. 
Such  would  be  only  an  advance  part  of  the  plan,  and  the 
same  arguments  apply  to  both. 

This  plan  is  recommended  as  a  means,  not  in  exclu- 
sion of  but  in  addition  to  all  others  for  restoring  and 
preserving  that  National  authority  throughout  the  Union. 
The  subject  is  presented  exclusively  in  its  economical 
aspect.  The  plan  would,  I  am  confident,  secure  peace 
more  speedily,  and  maintain  it  more  permanently,  than 
can  be  done  by  force  alone;  while  all  it  would  cost,  con- 
sidering amounts,  and  manner  of  payment,  and  times 
of  payment,  would  be  easier  paid  than  will  be  the  addi- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  275 

tional  cost  of  the  war,  if  we  rely  solely  upon  force.  It  is 
much — very  much — that  it  would  cost  no  blood  at  all. 

The  plan  is  proposed  as  permanent  constitutional 
law.  It  can  not  become  such  without  the  concurrence 
of,  first,  two-thirds  of  Congress,  and  afterward,  three- 
fourths  of  the  States.  The  requisite  three-fourths  of  the 
States  will  necessarily  include  seven  of  the  Slave  States. 
Their  concurrence,  if  obtained,  will  give  assurance  of 
their  severally  adopting  emancipation,  at  no  very  distant 
day,  upon  the  new  constitutional  terms.  This  assurance 
would  end  the  struggle  now,  and  save  the  Union  for- 
ever. 

I  do  not  forget  the  gravity  which  should  characterize 
a  paper  addressed  to  the  Congress  of  the  nation,  by  the 
Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation.  Nor  ck)  I  forget  that 
some  of  you  are  my  seniors;  nor  that  many  of  you  have 
more  experience  than  I  in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs. 
Yet,  I  trust,  that  in  view  of  the  great  responsibility 
resting  upon  me,  you  will  perceive  no  want  of  respect 
to  yourselves,  in  any  undue  earnestness  I  may  seem  to 
display. 

Is  it  doubted,  then,  that  the  plan  I  propose,  if  adopted, 
would  shorten  the  war,  and  thus  lessen  its  expenditure 
of  money  and  of  blood?  Is  it  doubted  that  it  would 
restore  the  National  authority  and  National  prosperity, 
and  perpetuate  both  indefinitely?  Is  it  doubted  that  we 
here — Congress  and  Executive —  can  secure  its  adoption? 
Will  not  the  good  people  respond  to  a  united  and  earnest 
appeal  from  us?  Can  we?  Can  they,  by  any  other 
means,  so  certainly,  or  so  speedily,  assure  these  vital 
objects?  We  can  succeed  only  by  concert.  It  is  not, 
"  Can  any  of  usimagine  better?  "  but, "  Canwe  all  do  better?" 
Object  whatsoever  is  possible,  still  the  question  recurs, 
"Can  we  do  better?"     The    dogmas  of   the  quiet  past 


276  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

are  inadequate  to  the  stormy  present.  The  occasion 
is  piled  high  with  difficulty,  and  we  must  rise  with  the 
occasion.  As  our  case  is  new,  so  we  must  think  anew, 
and  act  anew.  We  must  disinthrall  ourselves,  and  then 
we  shall  save  our  country. 

Fellow-citizens,  we  can  not  escape  liistory.  We,  of 
this  Congress  and  this  Administration,  will  be  remembered 
in  spite  of  ourselves.  No  personal  significance,  or  insig- 
nificance, can  spare  one  or  another  of  us.  The  fiery 
trial  through  which  we  pass,  will  light  us  down,  in  honor 
or  dishonor,  to  the  latest  generation.  We  say  we  are 
for  the  Union.  The  world  will  not  forget  that  we  say 
this.  We  know  how  to  save  the  Union.  The  world 
knows  we  do  know  how  to  save  it.  We — even  we  here — 
hold  the  power,  and  bear  the  responsibility.  In  giving 
freedcm  to  the  dare,  we  assure  freedom  to  the  free — 
honorable  alike  in  what  we  give,  and  what  we  preserve. 
We  shall  nobly  save,  or  meanly  lose,  the  last  best  hope  of 
earth.  Other  means  may  succeed:  this  could  not  fail. 
The  way  is  plain,  peaceful,  generous,  just — a  way  which, 
if  followed,  the  world  will  forever-  applaud,  and  God 
must   forever  bless. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

December  1,  1862. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

THE   POPULAR    VOICE    IN    1863. 

The  great  popular  reaction  in  favor  of  the  Administra- 
tion of  Mr.  Lincoln,  indicated  by  the  spring  elections,  was 
fully  apparent  in  the  verdict  of  every  loyal  State  in  the 
autumn  of  1863.  In  Ohio,  the  so-called  Democratic 
organization,  which  had  prevailed  in  that  State  by  a 
small  majority  in  October,  1862,  put  forward,  as  its 
canditate  for  Governor,  a  notorious  Peace  Democrat 
named  Vallandigham,  whose  action,  while  a  member 
of  the  previous  Congress,  had  been  in  strict  conform- 
ity with  his  avowed  motto:  "Not  a  man  or  a  dollar 
for  the  war."  To  such  an  extent  was  his  support  of  the 
rebellion  carried,  by  haranguing  his  followers,  and  all 
who  would  hear  him,  against  the  Government  and  the 
measures  it  had  adopted  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war, 
that  he  had  been  arrested  by  Gen.  Burnside,  then  in 
command  of  the  Department  including  Ohio,  tried  for 
his  treasonable  practices,  convicted,  and  ordered  to  be  sent 
through  the  lines  of  our  army  to  his  friends  at  the  South. 
The  proceedings  under  which  he  was  thus  condemned, 
were  fully  reviewed  before  the  United  States  District 
Court  at  Cincinnati,  on  a  motion  for  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus,  and  sustained  by  the  decision  of  Judge  Leavitt. 
It  may  be  added  that  this  action  was  further  confirmed 
several  months  later,  on  a  hearing  before  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States.  Hon.  John  Brough,  the 
Administration  candidate  was  chosen  Governor  of  Ohio, 
after  a  protracted  and  earnest  canvass,  by  more  than 
100.000  majority  over  Vallandigham. 

277 


278  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

During  the  earlier,  as  well  as  the  later,  elections  of 
this  year,  a  prominent  issue  before  the  people  was  the 
course  of  the  Administration  in  regard  to  Emancipation. 
Both  at  home  and  abroad,  this  policy  had  proved  an 
element  of  great  strength  in  shaping  pubhc  opinion  favor- 
ably to  ]\Ir.  Lincoln.  It  identified  his  Administration, 
from  the  day  this  great  step  was  taken,  with  not  only 
a  most  effective  means  for  suppressing  the  rebellion, 
but  also  with  a  measure  in  accordance  with  the  high 
behests  of  justice,  and  the  clearest  interests  of  civiliza- 
tion and  humanity.  At  the  beginning  of  the  year,  the 
President  received  a  gratifying  testimonial  of  sympathy 
and  confidence  from  the  workingmen  of  Manchester, 
in  England,  and  of  their  warm  appreciation,  especially, 
of  his  action  in  issuing  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipa- 
tion. To  this  address,  Mr.  Lincoln  sent  the  following 
reply: 

Executive  Mansion,  I 

Washington,  January  19,  1863.  j 
To  THE  Workingmen  of  Manchester:  I  have  the 
honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  address  and 
resolutions  which  you  sent  me  on  the  eve  of  the  new  year. 
When  I  came,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1861,  through  a 
free  and  constitutional  election,  to  preside  in  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  Ignited  States,  the  country  was  found  at 
the  verge  of  civil  war.  Whatever  might  have  been  the 
cause,  or  whosesoever  the  fault,  one  duty,  paramount 
to  all  others,  was  before  me,  namely,  to  maintain  and 
preserve  at  once  the  Constitution  and  the  integrity  of 
the  Federal  Republic.  A  coascientious  purpose  to  per- 
form this  duty  is  the  key  to  all  the  measures  of  admin- 
istration which  have  been,  and  to  all  which  will  hereafter 
be  pursued.  Under  our  frame  of  goverimient  and  my 
official  oath,  I  could  not  depart  from  this  purpose  if  I 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  279 

would.  It  is  not  always  in  the  power  of  governments 
to  enlarge  or  restrict  the  scope  of  moral  results  which 
follow  the  poUcies  that  they  may  deem  it  necessary, 
for  the  public  safety,  from  time  to  time  to  adopt. 

I  have  understood  well  that  the  duty  of  self-preserva- 
tion rests  solely  with  the  American  people.  But  I  have, 
at  the  same  time,  been  aware  that  the  favor  or  disfavor 
of  foreign  nations  might  have  a  material  influence  in 
enlarging  and  prolonging  the  struggle  with  disloyal  men 
in  which  the  country  is  engaged.  A  fair  examination 
of  history  has  seemed  to  authorize  a  belief  that  the  past 
action  and  influences  of  the  United  States  were  generally 
regarded  as  having  been  beneficial  toward  mankind. 
I  have,  therefore,  reckoned  upon  the  forbearance  of 
nations.  Circumstances — to  some  of  which  you  kindly 
allude — induced  me  especially  to  expect  that,  if  justice 
and  good  faith  should  be  practiced  by  the  United  States, 
they  would  encounter  no  hostile  influence  on  the  part 
of  Great  Britain.  It  is  now  a  pleasant  duty  to  acknowl- 
edge the  demonstration  you  have  given  of  your  desire 
that  a  spirit  of  peace  and  amity  toward  this  country  may 
prevail  in  the  councils  of  your  Queen,  who  is  respected 
and  esteemed  in  your  own  country  only  more  than  she 
is  by  the  kindred  nation  which  has  its  home  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic. 

I  Imow,  and  deeply  deplore,  the  sufferings  which  the 
workingmen  at  Manchester,  and  in  all  Europe,  are  called 
to  endure  in  this  crisis.  It  has  been  often  and  studiously 
represented  that  the  attempt  to  overthrow  this  Govern- 
ment, which  was  built  upon  the  foundation  of  human 
rights,  and  to  substitute  for  it  one  which  should  rest  ex- 
clusively on  the  basis  of  human  slavery,  was  likely  to  obtain 
the  favor  of  Europe.  Through  the  action  of  our  disloyal 
citizens,  the  workingmen  of  Europe  have  been  subjected 


280  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

to  severe  trial,  for  the  purpose  of  forcing  their  sanction  to 
that  attempt.  Under  these  circumstances,  I  cannot  but 
regard  your  decisive  utterances  upon  the  question  as  an 
instance  of  subHme  Christian  heroism,  which  has  not  been 
surpassed  in  any  age  or  in  any  country  It  is  indeed  an 
energetic  and  reinspiring  assurance  of  the  inherent  power 
of  truth,  and  of  the  ultimate  and  universal  triumph  of 
justice,  humanity  and  freedom.  I  do  not  doubt  that  the 
sentiments  you  have  expressed  will  be  sustained  by  your 
great  nation;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  I  have  no  hesitation 
in  assuring  you  that  they  will  excite  admiration,  esteem, 
and  the  most  reciprocal  feelings  of  friendship  among  the 
American  people.  I  hail  this  interchange  of  sentiment, 
therefore,  as  an  augury  that,  whatever  else  may  happen, 
whatever  misfortune  may  befall  your  country  or  my  own, 
the  peace  and  friendship  which  now  exist  between  the  two 
nations  will  be,  as  it  shall  be  my  desire  to  make  them,  per- 
petual. Abraham  Lincoln. 

Later  in  the  season,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  invited  to  revisit 
Ids  home  in  Springfield,  on  the  occasion  of  a  mass  meeting 
of  the  people  of  Illinois,  who  were  unconditionally  for  the 
Union,  to  be  held  at  that  place.  The  letter  addressed  by 
him,  in  reply,  to  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Invita- 
tion, an  esteemed  personal  friend,  was  published  at  the 
time,  and  received  with  satisfaction  by  the  loyal  people  of 
the  country.  The  subject  of  Emancipation  is  again  treated 
therein,  after  discussing  the  possible  terms  of  peace,  and 
the  issue  brought  directly  home  to  the  minds  of  the  people, 
with  pointed  force  and  sunlike  clearness.  The  letter  is  in 
these  words: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington, 
August  26,  1863. 
My  Dear  Sir  :     Your  letter  inviting  me  to  attend  a  mass 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  281 

meeting  of  unconditional  Union  men,  to  be  held  at  the 
capital  of  Illinois  on  the  .3d  day  of  September,  has  been 
received.  It  would  be  very  agreeable  to  me  thus  to  meet 
my  old  friends  at  my  own  home;  but  I  cannot  just  now  be 
absent  from  this  city  so  long  as  a  visit  there  would  require. 

The  meeting  is  to  be  of  all  those  who  maintain  uncondi- 
tional devotion  to  the  Union,  and  I  am  sure  that  my  old 
political  friends  will  thank  me  for  tendering  as  I  do,  the 
nation's  gratitude  to  those  other  noble  men  whom  no  par- 
tisan malice  or  partisan  hope  can  make  false  to  the  nation's 
life.  There  are  those  who  are  dissatisfied  with  me.  To 
such  I  would  say:  You  desire  peace,  and  you  blame  me 
that  we  do  not  have  it.  But  how  can  we  attain  it?  There 
are  but  three  conceivable  ways:  First,  to  suppress  the 
rebellion  by  force  of  arms.  This  I  am  trying  to  do.  Are 
you  for  it?  If  you  are,  so  far  we  are  agreed.  If  you  are 
not  for  it,  a  second  way  is  to  give  up  the  Union.  I  am 
against  this.  If  you  are,  you  should  say  so,  plainly.  If 
you  are  not  for  force,  nor  yet  for  dissolution,  there  only  re- 
mains some  imaginable  compromise. 

I  do  not  believe  that  any  compromise  embracing  the 
maintenance  of  the  LInion  is  now  possible.  All  that  I  learn 
leails  to  a  directly  opposite  belief.  The  strength  of  the 
rebellion  is  its  military — its  army.  That  army  dominates 
all  the  country  and  all  the  people  within  its  range.  Any 
offer  of  any  terms  made  by  any  man  or  men  within  that 
range  in  opposition  to  that  army,  is  simply  nothing  for  the 
present,  because  such  man  or  men  have  no  power  whatever 
to  enforce  their  side  of  a  compromise,  if  one  were  made 
with  them.  To  illustrate:  Suppose  refugees  from  the 
South  and  peace  men  of  the  North  get  together  in  conven- 
tion, and  frame  and  proclaim  a  compromise  embracing  the 
restoration  of  the  Union.  In  what  way  can  that  compromise 
be  used  to  keep  Gen.I-ee's  army  out  of  Pennsylvania?  Gen. 


282  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Meade's  army  can  keep  Lee's  army  out  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  I  think  can  ultimately  drive  it  out  of  existence.  But 
no  paper  compromise  to  which  the  controllers  of  Gen.  Lee's 
army  are  not  agreed,  can  at  all  affect  that  army.  In  an 
effort  at  such  compromise  we  would  waste  time,  which  the 
enemy  would  improve  to  our  disadvantage,  and  that  would 
be  all.  A  compromise,  to  be  effective,  must  be  made  either 
with  those  who  control  the  Rebel  army,  or  \vith  the  people, 
first  liberated  from  the  domination  of  that  army  by  the 
success  of  our  army.  Now,  allow  me  to  assure  you  that  no 
word  or  intimation  from  the  Rebel  army,  or  from  any  of  the 
men  controlling  it,  in  relation  to  any  peace  compromise, 
has  ever  come  to  my  knowledge  or  belief.  All  charges  and 
intimations  to  the  contrary  are  deceptive  and  groundless. 
And  I  promise  you  that  if  any  such  proposition  shall  here- 
after come,  it  shall  not  be  rejected  and  kept  secret  from 
you.  I  freely  acknowledge  myself  to  be  the  servant  of  the 
people,  acconling  to  the  bond  of  service,  the  United  States 
Constitution;  and  that,  as  such,  I  am  responsible  to  them. 

But,  to  be  plain.  You  are  dissatisfied  with  me  about  the 
negro.  Quite  likely  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  between 
you  and  myself  upon  that  subject.  I  certainly  wish  that 
all  men  could  be  free,  while  you,  I  suppose,  do  not.  Yet  I 
have  neither  adopted  nor  proposed  any  measure  which  is 
not  consistent  with  even  your  view,  provided  you  are  for 
the  Union.  I  suggested  compensated  emancipation,  to 
which  you  replied  that  you  wished  not  to  be  taxed  to  buy 
negroes.  But  I  have  not  asked  you  to  be  taxed  to  buy 
negroes,  except  in  such  way  as  to  save  you  from  greater 
taxation,  to  save  the  Union  exclusively  by  other  means. 

You  dislike  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  and  per- 
haps M'ould  have  it  retracted.  You  say  it  is  unconstitu- 
tional. I  think  differently.  I  think  that  the  Constitution 
invests  its  Commander-in-chief  with  the  law  of  war  in  the 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  283 

time  of  war.  The  most  that  can  be  said,  if  so  much,  is 
that  the  slaves  are  property.  Is  there,  has  there  ever  been 
any  question  that  by  the  law  of  war,  property,  both  of  ene- 
mies and  friends,  may  be  taken  when  needed?  And  is  it 
not  needed  whenever  taking  it  helps  us  or  hurts  the  enemy? 
Armies,  the  world  over,  destroy  enemies'  property  when 
they  can  not  use  it;  and  even  destroy  their  own  to  keep 
it  from  the  enemy.  Civilized  belligerents  do  all  in  their 
power  to  help  themselves  or  hurt  the  enemy,  except  a 
few  things  regarded  as  barbarous  or  cruel.  Among 
the  exceptions  are  the  massacre  of  vanquished  foes  and 
noncombatants,  male  and  female.  But  the  proclama- 
tion, as  law,  is  valid  or  is  not  valid.  If  it  is  not  valid, 
it  needs  no  retraction.  If  it  is  valid,  it  can  not  be  retracted, 
any  more  than  the  dead  can  be  brought  to  life.  Some 
of  you  profess  to  think  that  its  retraction  would  operate 
favorably  for  the  Union.  Why  better  after  the  retraction 
than  before  the  issue?  There  was  more  than  a  year 
and  a  half  of  trial  to  suppress  the  rebellion  before  the 
proclamation  was  issued,  the  last  one  hundred  days  of 
which  passed  under  an  explicit  notice,  that  it  was  coming 
unless  averted  by  those  in  revolt  returning  to  their  alle- 
giance. The  war  has  certainly  progressed  as  favorably 
for  us  since  the  issue  of  the  proclamation  as  before.  I 
know  as  fully  as  one  can  know  the  opinions  of  others, 
that  some  of  the  commanders  of  our  armies  in  the  field, 
who  have  given  us  our  most  important  victories,  believe 
the  emancipation  policy  and  the  aid  of  colored  troops 
constitute  the  heaviest  blows  yet  dealt  to  the  rebellion, 
and  that  at  least  one  of  those  important  successes  could 
not  have  been  achieved  when  it  was  but  for  the  aid  of 
black  soldiers.  Among  the  commanders  holding  these 
views  are  some  who  have  never  had  any  affinity  with 
what  is  called  abolitionism,  or  with  "republican  party 


284  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

politics,"  but  who  hold  them  purely  as  military  opinions. 
I  submit  their  opinions  as  being  entitled  to  some  weight 
against  the  objections  often  urged  that  emancipation 
and  arming  the  blacks  are  unwise  as  military  measures, 
and  were  not  adopted  as  such  in  good  faith. 

You  say  that  you  will  not  fight  to  free  negroes.  Some 
of  them  seem  to  be  willing  to  fight  for  you — but  no  matter. 
Fight  you,  then,  exclusively  to  save  the  Union.  I  issued 
the  proclamation  on  purpose  to  aid  you  in  saving  the 
Union.  Whenever  you  shall  have  conquered  all  resistance 
to  the  Union,  if  I  shall  urge  you  to  continue  fighting,  it 
will  be  an  apt  time  then  for  you  to  declare  that  you  will 
not  fight  to  free  negroes.  I  thought  that,  in  your  struggle 
for  the  Union,  to  whatever  extent  the  negroes  should 
cease  helping  the  enemy,  to  that  extent  it  weakened  the 
enemy  in  his  resistance  to  you.  Do  you  think  differently? 
I  thought  that  whatever  negroes  can  be  got  to  do  as 
soldiers,  leaves  just  so  much  less  for  white  soldiers  to  do 
in  saving  the  Union.  Does  it  appear  otherwise  to  you? 
But  negroes,  like  other  people,  act  upon  motives.  ^Vhy 
should  they  do  anything  for  us,  if  we  will  do  nothing 
for  them?  If  they  stake  their  lives  for  us,  they  must 
be  prompted  by  the  strongest  motive,  even  the  promise 
of  freedom.     And  the  promise,  being  made,  must  be  kept. 

The  signs  look  better.  The  Father  of  AVaters  again 
goes  unvexed  to  the  sea.  Thanks  to  the  great  North- 
west for  it.  Nor  yet  wholly  to  them.  Three  hundred 
miles  up  they  met  New  England,  Empire,  Keystone, 
and  Jersey,  hewing  their  way  right  and  left.  The  sunny 
South,  too,  in  more  colors  than  one,  also  lent  a  hand. 
On  the  spot  their  part  of  the  history  was  jotted  down 
in  black  and  white.  The  job  was  a  great  National  one, 
and  let  none  be  banned  who  bore  an  honorable  part  in 
it;  and,  while  those  who  have  cleared  the  great  river  may 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


285 


well  be  proud,  even  that  is  not  all.  It  is  hard  to  say  that 
any  thing  has  been  more  bravely  and  better  done  than 
at  Antietam,  Murfreesboro,  Gettysburg,  and  on  many 
fields  of  less  note.  Nor  must  Uncle  Sam's  web-feet  be 
forgotten.  At  all  the  waters'  margins  they  have  been 
present:  not  only  on  the  deep  sea,  the  broad  bay  and  the 
rapid  river,  but  also  up  the  narrow,  muddy  bayou;  and 
wherever  the  ground  was  a  little  damp,  they  have  been 
and  made  their  tracks.  Thanks  to  all.  For  the  great 
Republic — for  the  principles  by  which  it  lives  and  keeps 
alive — for  man's  vast  future — thanks  to  all.  Peace 
does  not  appear  so  far  distant  as  it  did.  I  hope  it  will 
come  soon,  and  come  to  stay;  and  so  come  as  to  be  worth 
the  keeping  in  all  future  time.  It  will  then  have  been 
proved  that  among  freemen  there  can  be  no  successful 
appeal  from  the  ballot  to  the  bullet,  and  that  they  who 
take  such  appeal  are  sure  to  lose  their  case  and  pay  the 
cost.  And  then  there  will  be  some  black  men  who  can 
remember  that,  with  silent  tongue,  and  clenched  teeth, 
and  steady  eye,  and  well  poised  bayonet,  they  have 
helped  mankind  on  to  this  great  consummation;  while  I 
fear  that  there  will  be  some  white  men  unable  to  forget 
that,  with  malignant  heart  and  deceitful  speech,  they 
have  striven  to  hinder  it. 

Still,  let  us  not  be  over-sanguine  of  a  speedy  final  triumph. 
Let  us  be  quite  sober.  Let  us  diligently  apply  the  means, 
never  doubting  that  a  just  God,  in  His  own  good  time, 
will  give  us  the  rightful  result. 

Yours,    very   truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

James  C.  Conkling,  Esq. 


Mr.  Lincoln,  whose  gratitude  to  the  gallant  soldiers 
who  have  rallied  at  the  call  of  their  country,  and  whose 
proud  satisfaction  in  their   heroic   conduct  on  so  many 


286  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

battle-fields  has  been  constantly  manifested,  was  unwill- 
ing to  decline  the  invitation  to  be  present  on  the  solemn 
occasion  of  consecrating  a  National  Cemetery  at  Gettys- 
burg, for  the  fallen  in  the  sanguinary  conflicts  at  that 
place,  in  July,  1863.  No  truer  or  tenderer  sjrmpathy 
than  his,  for  the  brave  dead  and  for  their  surviving  friends, 
ever  had  place  in  any  human  breast.  The  elaborate 
eloquence  of  our  most  accomplished  orator,  Edward 
Everett,  and  the  presence  of  an  innumerable  multitude 
of  people,  added  a  solemn  grandeur  to  the  ceremonies 
of  the  day.  But  no  fitter  or  more  touching  words  were 
spoken  than  these  of  Mr.  Lincoln: 

Address  at  Gettysburg,  Nov.  19,  1863. 

Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought 
forth  upon  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in 
Liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men 
are  created  equal.  Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil 
war,  testing  whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  con- 
ceived and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We  are  met 
on  a  great  battle-field  of  that  war.  We  are  met  to  dedicate 
a  portion  of  it  as  the  final  resting-place  of  those  who  here 
gave  their  lives  that  that  nation  might  live.  It  is  alto- 
gether fitting  and  proper  that  we  should   do   this. 

But  in  a  larger  sense,  we  can  not  dedicate,  we  can  not 
consecrate,  we  can  not  hallow  this  ground.  The  brave 
men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here,  have  consecrated 
it  far  above  our  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will 
little  note,  nor  long  remember,  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can 
never  forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living, 
rather  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the  unfinished  work  that  they 
have  thus  far  so  nobly  carried  on.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be 
here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us — 
that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  287 

to  the  cause  for  which  they  here  gave  the  last  full  meas- 
ure of  devotion — that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  the 
dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain — that  the  nation  shall, 
under  God,  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom,  and  that  the 
Government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people 
shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. 

After  the  decisive  advantages  gained  by  our  arms, 
the  rebellion  being  substantially  at  an  end  in  the  States 
of  Louisiana,  Tennessee  and  Arkansas,  and  movements 
for  their  reorganization  under  loyal  local  governments 
already  under  consideration  by  the  people  of  those  States, 
some  indication  of  the  President's  policy  for  restoring 
order  and  law,  in  the  territory  reconquered  from  armed 
Rebels,  was  naturally  expected  by  tlie  people.  Mr. 
Lincoln,  as  the  meeting  of  Congress  approached,  had 
given  his  earnest  attention  to  this  difficult  subject — 
now  become  one  of  the  highest  practical  moment.  By 
an  act  approved  July  17,  1862,  Congress  had  provided: 

That  the  President  is  hereby  authorized,  at  any  time 
hereafter,  by  proclamation,  to  extend  to  persons  who 
may  have  participated  in  the  existing  rebellion  in  any 
State  or  part  thereof,  pardon  and  amnesty,  with  such  ex- 
ceptions, and  at  such  time,  and  on  such  conditions,  as 
he  may  deem  expedient  for  the  public  welfare. 

In  the  judgment  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  fitting  time 
had  now  come  for  exercising  this  power.  Among  the 
"conditions"  which  he  was  autliorized  to  prescribe, 
very  clearly,  good  faith  and  consistency  required  him  to 
include  an  effective  one  for  carrying  out  his  policy  of 
Emancipation.  This  and  other  considerations  also  made 
it  indispensable  that  he  should  indicate — without  in- 
flexibly prescribing,  as  he  did  not — an  acceptable  mode 


288  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

of  reorganizing  loyal  State  Governments.  The  result 
of  his  deliberations  was  set  forth  simultaneously  with 
the  publication  of  his  annual  message,  in  the  celebrated 
paper  following- 

A  Proclamation. 

Whereas,  In  and  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  it  is  provided  that  the  President  "shall  have  power 
to  grant  reprieves  and  pardons  for  offenses  against  the 
United  States,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment;"  and 
whereas,  a  rebellion  now  exists  M'hereby  the  loyal  State 
Governments  of  several  States  have  for  a  long  time  been 
subverted,  and  many  persons  have  committed  and  are 
now  guilty  of  treason  against  the  United  States:  and 
whereas,  with  reference  to  said  rebellion  and  treason, 
laws  have  been  enacted  by  Congress  declaring  forfeitures 
and  confiscation  of  property  and  liberation  of  slaves, 
all  upon  terms  and  conditions  therein  stated;  and  also 
declaring  that  the  President  was  thereby  authorized 
at  any  time  thereafter,  by  proclamation,  to  extend  to 
persons  who  may  have  participated  in  the  existing  rebellion 
in  any  State  or  part  thereof,  pardon  and  amnesty,  with 
such  exceptions  and  at  such  times  and  on  such  condi- 
tions as  he  may  deem  expedient  for  the  public  welfare: 
and  whereas,  the  Congressional  declaration  for  limited 
and  conditional  pardon  accords  with  well-established 
judicial  exposition  of  the  pardoning  power;  and  whereas, 
wdth  reference  to  sf.id  rebellion,  the  President  of  the 
United  States  has  issued  several  proclamations  with  pro- 
visions in  regard  to  the  liberation  of  slaves;  and  whereas, 
it  is  now  desired  by  some  persons  heretofore  engaged  in 
said  rebeUion  to  resume  their  allegiance  to  the  United 
States  and  to  re-inaugura\te  loyal  State  Governments  within 
and  for  their  respective  States;  therefore, 


GEN.    ULYSSES   S.    GRANT. 


HON,  SAL..ION  P.  CHASE 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  289 

I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States, 
do  proclaim,  declare,  and  make  known  to  all  persons 
who  have,  directly  or  by  implication,  participated  in  the 
existing  rebellion,  except  as  hereinafter  excepted,  that 
a  full  pardon  is  hereby  granted  to  them  and  each  of  them, 
with  restoration  of  all  rights  of  property,  except  as  to 
slaves,  and  in  property  cases  where  rights  of  third  parties 
shall  have  intervened,  and  upon  the  condition  that  every 
such  person  shall  take  and  subscribe  an  oath,  and  thence- 
forward keep  and  maintain  said  oath  inviolate;  and 
which  oath  shall  be  registered  for  permanent  preserva- 
tion, and  shall  be  of  the  tenor  and  effect  following,  to-wit : 

"I, ,    do   solemnly   swear,   in   presence   of 

Almighty  God,  that  I  will  henceforth  faithfully  support, 
protect  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  Union  of  the  States  thereunder ;  and  that  I  will,  in 
like  manner,  abide  by  and  faithfully  support  all  acts 
of  Congress  passed  during  the  existing  rebellion  with 
reference  to  slaves,  so  long  and  so  far  as  not  repealed, 
modified,  or  held  void  by  Congress,  or  by  decision  of 
the  Supreme  Court;  and  that  I  will,  in  like  manner,  abide 
by  and  faithfully  support  all  proclamations  of  the  Pres- 
ident made  during  the  existing  rebellion  having  reference 
to  slaves,  so  long  and  so  far  as  not  modified  or  declared 
void  by  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court.  So  help  me 
God." 

The  persons  excepted  from  the  benefits  of  the  fore- 
going provisions  are  all  who  are,  or  shall  have  been,  civil 
or  diplomatic  officers  or  agents  of  the  so-called  Confed- 
erate Government;  all  who  have  left  judicial  stations  under 
the  United  States  to  aid  the  rebellion;  all  who  are,  or 
shall  have  been,  military  or  naval  officers  of  the  said 
so-called  Confederate  Government,  above  the  rank  of 
colonel  in  the  army,   or  of  lieutenant  in  the  navy;  all 


290  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

who  left  seats  in  the  United  States  Congress  to  aid  the 
rebellion;  all  who  resigned  commissions  in  the  Army 
or  Navy  of  the  United  States,  and  afterward  aided  the 
rebellion;  and  all  who  have  engaged  in  any  way  in  treating 
colored  persons,  or  white  persons  in  charge  of  such,  other- 
wise than  lawfully  as  prisoners  of  war,  and  which  persons 
may  have  been  found  in  the  United  States  service  as 
soldiers,   seamen,  or  in  any  other  capacity. 

And  I  do  further  proclaim,  declare,  and  make  known, 
that  whenever,  in  any  of  the  States  of  Arkansas,  Texas, 
Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Georgia, 
Florida,  South  Carolina,  and  North  Carolina,  a  number 
of  persons,  not  less  than  one-tenth  in  number  of  the 
votes  cast  in  such  State  at  the  Presidential  election  of 
the  year  of  our  Lord  1860,  each  having  taken  the  oath 
aforesaid,  and  not  having  since  violated  it,  and  being 
a  qualified  voter  by  the  election  law  of  the  State  existing 
immediately  before  the  so-called  act  of  secession,  and 
excluding  all  others,  shall  re-establish  a  State  Government 
which  shall  be  republican,  and  in  no  wise  contravening 
said  oath,  such  shall  be  recognized  as  the  true  Government 
of  the  State,  and  the  State  shall  receive  thereunder  the 
benefits  of  the  constitutional  provision  which  declares 
that  "the  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State 
in  this  Union  a  republican  form  of  government,  and 
shall  protect  each  of  them  against  invasion;  and  on  appli- 
cation of  the  Legislature,  or  the  Executive,  (when  the 
Legislature,  can  not  be  convened,)  against  domestic 
violence." 

And  I  do  further  proclaim,  declare,  and  make  known 
that  any  provision  which  may  be  adopted  by  such  State 
Government  in  relation  to  the  freed  people  of  such  State, 
which  shall  recognize  and  declare  their  permanent  freedom, 
provide  for  their  education,  and  M-hich  may  yet  be  con- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  291 

sistent,  as  a  temporary  arrangement,  with  their  present 
condition  as  a  laboring,  landless,  and  homeless  class, 
will  not  be  objected  to  by  the  National  Executive.  And 
it  is  suggested  as  not  improper,  that,  in  constructing 
a  loyal  State  Government  in  any  State,  the  name  of  the 
State,  the  boundery,  the  subdivisions,  the  Constitition, 
and  the  general  code  of  laws,  as  before  the  rebellion, 
be  maintained,  subject  only  to  the  modifications  made 
necessary  by  the  conditions  hereinbefore  stated,  and 
such  others,  if  any,  not  contravening  said  conditions, 
and  which  may  be  deemed  expedient  by  those  framing 
the  new  State  Government. 

To  avoid  misunderstanding,  it  may  be  proper  to  say 
that  this  proclamation,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  State  Govern- 
ments, has  no  reference  to  States  wherein  loyal  State 
Governments  have  all  the  while  been  maintained.  And 
for  the  same  reason,  it  may  be  proper  to  further  say 
that  whether  members  sent  to  Congress  from  any 
State  shall  be  admitted  to  seats  constitutionally,  rests 
exclusively  with  the  respective  Houses,  and  not  to  any 
extent  with  the  Executive.  And  still  further,  that  this 
proclamation  is  intended  to  present  the  people  of  the 
States  wherein  the  National  authority  has  been  suspended, 
and  loyal  State  Governments  have  been  subverted,  a 
mode  in  and  by  which  the  National  authority  and 
loyal  State  Governments  may  be  re-established  within 
said  States,  or  in  any  of  them;  and,  while  the  mode  pre- 
sented is  the  best  the  Executive  can  suggest,  with  his 
present  impressions,  it  must  not  be  understood  that  no 
other  possible  mode  would  be  acceptable. 

Given  under  my  hand  at  the  city  of  Washington, 

the  8th  day  of  December,  A.  D.  1863,  and  of  the 

[l.  s.]     Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America 

the  eighty-eighth.  Abraham  Lincoln. 


292  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Annual  Message  was  sent  in  to  Congress 
on  the  9th  day  of  December.  This  document — omitting 
only  portions  of  less  abiding  interest — is  as  follows: 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Annual  Message. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives:  Another  year  of  health  and  suffi- 
ciently abundant  harvests  has  passed.  For  these,  and 
especially  for  the  improved  condition  of  our  National 
affairs,  our  renewed  and  profoundest  gratitude  to  God 
is  due. 

We  remain  in  peace  and  friendship  with  foreign  powers. 

The  efforts  of  disloyal  citizens  of  the  United  States 
to  involve  us  in  foreign  wars,  to  aid  an  inexcusable  insur- 
rection, have  been  unavailing.  Her  Britannic  Majesty's 
Government,  as  was  justly  expected,  have  exercised 
their  authority  to  prevent  the  departure  of  new  hostile 
expeditions  from  British  ports.  The  Emperor  of  France 
has,  by  a  like  proceeding,  promptly  vindicated  the  neutral- 
ity which  he  proclaimed  at  the  beginning  of  the  contest. 
Questions  of  great  intricacy  and  importance  have  arisen, 
out  of  the  blockade  and  other  belligerent  operations, 
between  the  Government  and  several  of  the  maritime 
powers,  but  they  have  been  discussed,  and,  as  far  as  was 
possible,  accommodated  in  a  spirit  of  frankness,  justice, 
and  mutual  good  will.  It  is  especially  gratifying  that 
our  prize  courts,  by  the  impartiality  of  their  adjudica- 
tions, have  commanded  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
maritime  powers. 

The  supplement  treaty  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  for  the  suppression  of  the  African 
slave-trade,  made  on  the  17th  day  of  February  last,  has 
been   duly   ratified,   and   carried   into   execution.     It   is 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  293 

believed  that,  so  far  as  American  ports  and  American 
citizens  are  concerned,  that  inhuman  and  odious  traffic 
has  been  brought  to  an  end. 

Incidents  occurring  in  the  progress  of  our  civil  war 
have  forced  upon  my  attention  the  uncertain  state  of 
international  questions  toucliing  the  rights  of  foreigners 
in  this  country  and  of  United  States  citizens  abroad.  In 
regard  to  some  Governments,  these  rights  are  at  least  par- 
tially defined  by  treaties.  In  no  instance,  however,  is  it 
expressly  stipulated  that,  in  the  event  of  civil  war,  a 
foreigner  residing  in  this  country,  within  the  lines  of  the 
insurgents,  is  to  be  exempted  from  the  rule  which  classes 
him  as  a  belligerent,  in  whose  behalf  the  Government 
of  his  country  can  not  expect  any  privileges  or  immunities 
distinct  from  that  character.  I  regret  to  say,  however, 
that  such  claims  have  been  put  forward,  and,  in  some 
instances  in  behalf  of  foreigners  who  have  lived  in  the 
United  States  the  greater  part  of  their  lives. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  many  persons  born  in 
foreign  countries,  who  have  declared  their  intention  to 
become  citizens,  or  who  have  been  fully  naturalized, 
have  evaded  the  military  duty  required  of  them  by  denying 
the  fact,  and  thereby  throwing  upon  the  Government 
the  burden  of  proof.  It  has  been  found  difficult  or  im- 
practicable to  obtain  this  proof,  from  the  want  of  guides 
to  the  proper  sources  of  information.  These  might  be 
supplied  by  requiring  clerks  of  courts,  where  declarations 
of  intention  may  be  made  or  naturalizations  effected,  to 
send,  periodically,  lists  of  the  names  of  the  persons  natural- 
ized, or  declaring  their  intention  to  become  citizens, 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  in  whose  Department 
those  names  might  be  arranged  and  printed  for  general 
information. 

There  is   also  reason   to   believe   that    foreigners   fre- 


294  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

quently  become  citizens  of  the  Ignited  States  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  evading  duties  imposed  by  the  laws  of  their 
native  countries,  to  which,  on  becoming  naturalized 
here,  they  at  once  repair,  and,  though  never  returning  to 
the  United  States,  they  still  claim  the  interposition  of  this 
Government  as  citizens.  Many  altercations  and  great 
prejudices  have  heretofore  arisen  out  of  this  abuse.  It  is, 
therefore,  submitted  to  your  serious  consideration.  It 
might  be  advisable  to  fix  a  limit,  beyond  which  no  citizen 
of  the  United  States  residing  abroad  may  claim  the  inter- 
position of  his  Government. 

The  right  of  suffrage  has  often  been  assumed  and  exer- 
cised by  aliens,  under  pretenses  of  naturalization,  which 
they  have  disavowed  when  drafted  into  the  military 
service.  I  submit  the  expediency  of  such  an  amend- 
ment of  the  law  as  will  make  the  fact  of  voting  an  estoppel 
against  any  plea  of  exemption  from  military  ser\'ice,  or 
other  civil  obligation,  on  the  ground  of  ahenage 

The  condition  of  the  several  organized  Territories  is 
generally  satisfactory,  although  Indian  disturbances  in 
New  Mexico  have  not  been  entirely  suppressed.  The 
mineral  resources  of  Colorado,  Nevada,  Idaho,  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona  are  proving  far  richer  than  has  been  hereto- 
fore understood.  I  lay  before  you  a  communication  on 
this  subject  from  the  Governor  of  New  Mexico.  I  again 
submit  to  your  consideration  the  expediency  of  establish- 
ing a  system  for  the  encouragement  of  immigration.  Al- 
though this  source  of  National  wealth  and  strength  is 
again  flowing  with  greater  freedom  than  for  several  years 
before  the  insurrection  occurred,  there  is  still  a  great  defi- 
ciency of  laborers  in  every  field  of  industry,  especially  in 
agriculture  and  in  our  mines,  as  well  of  iron  and  coal  as  of 
the  precious  metals.  While  the  demand  for  labor  is  thus 
increased  here,  tens  of  thousands  of  persons,  destitute  of 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  295 

remunerative  occupation,  are  thronging  our  foreign  con- 
sulates, and  offering  to  emigrate  to  tlie  United  States  if  es- 
sential but  very  cheap  assistance  can  be  afforded  them. 
It  is  easy  to  see  that,  under  the  sharp  discipline  of  civil 
war,  the  nation  is  beginning  a  new  life.  This  noble  effort 
demands  the  aid,  and  ought  to  receive  the  attention  and 
support,  of  the  Government. 

Injuries,  unforeseen  by  the  Government  and  unintended, 
may,  in  some  cases,  have  been  inflicted  on  the  subjects  or 
citizens  of  foreign  countries,  both  at  sea  and  on  land,  by 
persons  in  the  service  of  the  United  States.  As  this  Govern- 
ment expects  redress  from  other  Powers  when  similar  in- 
juries are  inflicted  by  persons  in  their  service  upon  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  we  must  be  prepared  to  do  justice 
to  foreigners.  If  the  existing  judicial  tribunals  are  inade- 
quate to  this  purpose,  a  special  court  may  be  authorized, 
with  power  to  hear  and  decide  such  claims  of  the  character 
referred  to  as  may  have  arisen  under  treaties  and  the 
public  law.  Conventions  for  adjusting  the  claims  by  joint 
commission  have  been  proposed  to  some  Governments, 
but  no  definite  answer  to  the  proposition  has  yet  been 
received  from  any. 

In  the  course  of  the  session,  I  shall  probably  have  occa- 
sion to  request  you  to  provide  indemnification  to  claim- 
ants where  decrees  of  restitution  have  been  rendered  and 
damages  awarded  by  admiralty  courts,  and  in  other 
cases,  where  this  Government  may  be  acknowledged 
to  be  liable  in  principle,  and  where  the  amount  of  that 
liability  has  been  ascertained  by  an  informal  arbitration. 

The  proper  officers  of  the  Treasury  have  deemed  them- 
selves required,  by  the  law  of  the  LTnited  States  upon 
the  subject,  to  demand  a  tax  upon  the  incomes  of  foreign 
consuls  in  this  country.  While  such  demand  may  not, 
in  strictness,  be  in  derogation  of  public  law,  or  perhaps 


296  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

of  any  existing  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  a 
foreign  country,  the  expediency  of  so  far  modifying  the 
act  as  to  exempt  from  tax  the  income  of  such  consuls 
as  are  not  citizens  of  the  United  States,  derived  from 
the  emoluments  of  their  office,  or  from  property  not 
situated  in  the  United  States,  is  submitted  to  your  serious 
consideration.  I  make  this  suggestion  upon  the  ground 
that  a  comit}^  which  ought  to  be  reciprocated,  exempts 
our  consuls,  in  all  other  countries,  from  taxation  to  the 
extent  thus  indicated.  The  United  vStates,  I  think,  ought 
not  to  be  exceptionably  illiberal  to  international  trade 
and  commerce. 

The  operations  of  the  Treasury  during  the  last  year 
have  been  successfully  conducted.  The  enactment  by 
Congress  of  a  National  Banking  Law  has  proved  a  valuable 
support  of  the  public  credit;  and  the  general  legislation 
in  relation  to  loans  has  fully  answered  the  expectations 
of  its  favorers.  Some  amendments  may  be  required 
to  perfect  existing  laws;  but  no  change  in  their  principles 
or  general  scope  is  believed  to  be  needed. 

Since  these  measures  have  been  in  operation,  all  demands 
on  the  Treasury,  including  the  pay  of  the  Army  and 
Navy,  have  been  promptly  met  and  fully  satisfied.  No 
considerable  body  of  troops,  it  is  beheved,  were  ever 
more  amply  provided,  and  more  liberally  and  punctually 
paid;  and  it  may  be  added  that  by  no  people  were  the 
burdens  incident  to  a  great  war  ever  more  cheerfully 
borne. 

The  receipts  during  the  year  from  all  sources,  including 
loans  and  the  balance  in  the  Treasury  at  its  commence- 
ment, were  $901,125,674.86,  and  the  aggregate  disburse- 
ments, $895,796,630.65,  leaving  a  balance  on  the  1st 
of  July,  1863,  of  $5,329,044.21.  Of  the  receipts  there 
were  derived  from  customs   $69,059,642.40;    from   inter- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  297 

nal  revenue,  $37,640,787.95;  from  direct  tax,  $1,485,103.61 ; 
from  lands,  $167,617.17;  from  miscellaneous  sources, 
$3,046,615.35;  and  from  loans,  $776,682,361.57;  making 
the  aggregate,  $901,125,674.86.  Of  the  disbursements, 
there  were  for  the  civil  service,  $23,253,922.08;  for  pensions 
and  Indians,  $4,216,520.79;  for  interest  on  public  debt, 
$24,729,846.51;  for  the  War  Department,  $599,298,600.83; 
for  the  Navy  Department,  $63,211,105.27;  for  payment 
of  funded  and  temporary  debt,  $181,086,635.07;  making 
the  aggregate,  $895,796,630.65;  and  leaving  the  balance 
of  $5,329,044.21.  But  the  payment  of  funded  and 
temporary  debt,  having  been  made  from  moneys  borrowed 
during  the  year,  must  be  regarded  as  merely  nominal 
payments,  and  the  moneys  borrowed  to  make  them  as 
merelynominal  receipts;  and  their  amount, $181,086,635.07, 
should  therefore  be  deducted  both  from  receipts  and 
disbursements.  This  being  done,  there  remain,  as  actual 
receipts,  $720,039,039.79;  and  the  actual  disbursements, 
$714,709,995.58,  leaving  the  balance  as  already  stated. 

The  actual  receipts  and  disbursements  for  the  first 
quarter,  and  the  estimated  receipts  and  disbursements 
for  the  remaining  three  quarters,  of  the  current  fiscal 
year,  1864,  will  be  shown  in  detail  by  the  report  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  to  which  I  invite  your  atten- 
tion. It  is  sufficient  to  say  here  that  it  is  not  believed 
that  actual  results  will  exhibit  a  state  of  the  finances 
less  favorable  to  the  country  than  the  estimates  of  that 
officer  heretofore  submitted;  while  it  is  confidently  ex- 
pected that  at  the  close  of  the  year  both  disbursements 
and  debt  will  be  found  very  considerably  less  than  has 
been  anticipated. 

The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  War  is  a  document  of 
great  interest.    It  consists  of — 


298  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

1.  The  military  operations  of  the  year,  detailed  in 
the  report  of  the  General-in-chief. 

2.  The  organization  of  colored  persons  into  the  ^\-ar 
service. 

3.  The  exchange  of  prisoners,  fully  set  forth  in  the 
letter  of  General  Hitchcock. 

4.  The  operations  under  the  act  for  enrolling  and  calling 
out  the  National  forces,  detailed  in  the  report  of  the 
Provost  Marshal  General. 

5.  The   organization  of  the  invalid  corps;  and 

6.  The  operation  of  the  several  departments  of  the 
Quartermaster  General,  Commissary  General,  PajTiiaster 
General,  Chief  of  Engineers,  Chief  of  Ordnance,  and 
Surgeon  General. 

It  has  appeared  impossible  to  make  a  valuable  sum- 
mary of  this  report,  except  such  as  would  be  too  extended 
for  this  place,  and  hence  I  content  myself  by  asking 
your  careful  attention  to  the  report  itself. 

The  duties  devolving  on  the  naval  branch  of  the  serv- 
ice during  the  year,  and  throughout  the  whole  of  this 
unhappy  contest,  have  been  discharged  with  fidelity 
and  eminent  success.  The  extensive  blockade  has  been 
constantly  increasing  in  efficiency,  and  the  Navy  has 
expanded ;  yet  on  so  long  a  Une  it  has  so  far  been  impossible 
to  entirely  suppress  illicit  trade.  From  returns  received 
at  the  Navy  Department,  it  appears  that  more  than  one 
thousand  vessels  have  been  captured  since  the  blockade 
was  instituted,  and  that  the  value  of  prizes  already  sent 
in  for  adjudication,  amounts  to  over  thirteen  milUon 
dollars. 

The  naval  force  of  the  United  States  consists,  at  this 
time,  of  five  hundred  and  eighty-eight  vessels,  completed 
and  in  the  course  of  completion,  and  of  these  seventy- 
five  are  iron-clad  or  armored  steamers.    The  events  of 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.     ^  •   299 

the  war  give  an  increased  interest  and  importance  to 
the  Navy,  which  will  probably  extend  beyond  the  war 
itself. 

The  armored  vessels  in  our  Navy,  completed  and  in 
service,  or  which  are  imder  contract  and  approaching 
completion,  are  believed  to  exceed  in  number  those  of 
any  other  Power.  But  while  these  may  be  relied  upon 
for  harbor  defense  and  coast  service,  others,  of  greater 
strength  and  capacity,  will  be  necessary  for  cruising 
purposes,  and  to  maintain  our  rightful  position  on  the 
ocean. 

The  change  that  has  taken  place  in  naval  vessels  and 
naval  warfare  since  the  introduction  of  steam  as  a  motive 
power  for  ships-of-war,  demands  either  a  corresponding 
change  in  some  of  our  existing  navy-yards,  or  the  establish- 
ment of  new  ones,  for  the  construction  and  necessary 
repair  of  modern  naval  vessels.  No  inconsiderable 
embarrassment,  delay,  and  public  injury  have  been 
experienced  from  the  want  of  such  Governmental  estab- 
lishments. The  necessity  of  such  a  navy-yard,  so  fur- 
nished, at  some  suitable  place  upon  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board, has,  on  repeated  occasions,  been  brought  to  the 
attention  of  Congress  by  the  Navy  Department,  and 
is  again  presented  in  the  report  of  the  Secretary,  which 
accompanies  this  communication.  I  think  it  my  duty 
to  invite  your  special  attention  to  this  subject,  and  also 
to  that  of  establishing  a  yard  and  depot  for  naval  pur- 
poses upon  one  of  the  Western  rivers.  A  naval  force 
has  been  created  on  those  interior  waters,  and  under 
many  disadvantages,  within  little  more  than  two  years, 
exceeding  in  numbers  the  whole  naval  force  of  the  country 
at  the  commencement  of  the  present  Administration. 
Satisfactory  and  important  as  have  been  the  performances 
of  the  heroic  men  of  the  Navy  at  this  interesting  period, 


300  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

they  are  scarcely  more  wonderful  than  the  success  of 
our  mechanics  and  artisans  in  the  production  of  war 
vessels,  which  has  created  a  new  form  of  naval  power. 

Our  country  has  advantages  superior  to  any  other 
nation  in  our  resources  of  iron  and  timber,  with  inex- 
haustible quantities  of  fuel  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  both,  and  all  available  and  in  close  proximity  to  navig- 
able waters.  Without  the  advantage  of  public  works, 
the  resources  of  the  nation  have  been  developed,  and  its 
power  displayed,  in  the  construction  of  a  navy  of  such 
magnitude,  which  has,  at  the  very  period  of  its  creation, 
rendered   signal   service   to   the   Union. 

The  increase  of  the  number  of  seamen  in  the  public 
service,  from  seven  thousand  five  hundred  men  in  the 
spring  of  1861,  to  about  thirty-four  thousand  at  the 
present  time,  has  been  accomplished  without  special 
legislation  or  extraordinary  bounties  to  promote  that 
increase.  It  has  been  found,  however,  that  the  operation 
of  the  draft,  with  the  high  bounties  paid  for  army  recruits, 
is  beginning  to  affect  injuriously  the  naval  service,  and 
will,  if  not  corrected,  be  likely  to  impair  its  efficiency, 
by  detaching  seamen  from  their  proper  vocation  and 
inducing  them  to  enter  the  army.  I  therefore  respect- 
fully suggest  that  Congress  might  aid  both  the  army 
and  naval  services  by  a  definite  provision  on  this  subject, 
which  would  at  the  same  time  be  equitable  to  the  com- 
munities more  especially  interested. 

I  commend  to  your  consideration  the  suggestions  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  in  regard  to  the  policy  of  foster- 
ing and  training  seamen,  and  also  the  education  of  officers 
and  engineers  for  the  naval  service.  The  Naval  Academy 
is  rendering  signal  service  in  preparing  midshipmen  for 
the  highly  responsible  duties  which  in  after-life  they 
will  be  required  to  perform.     In  order  that  the  country 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  301 

should  not  be  deprived  of  the  proper  quota  of  educated 
officers  for  which  legal  provision  has  been  made  at  the 
Naval  School,  the  vacancies  caused  by  the  neglect  or 
omission  to  make  nominations  from  the  States  in  insurrec- 
tion have  been  filled  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  The 
school  is  now  more  full  and  comjjlete  than  at  any  former 
period,  and  in  every  respect  entitled  to  the  favorable 
consideration   of   Congress. 

During  the  past  fiscal  year  the  financial  condition  of 
the  Post  Office  Department  has  been  one  of  increasing 
prosperity,  and  I  am  gratified  in  being  able  to  state  that 
the  actual  postal  revenue  has  nearly  equaled  the  entire 
expenditures;  the  latter  amounting  to  $11,314,206.84, 
and  the  former  to  $11,163,789.59,  leaving  a  deficiency 
of  but  $150,417.25.  In  1860,  the  year  immediately 
preceding  the  rebellion,  the  deficiency  amounted  to 
$5,656,705.49,  the  postal  receipts  of  that  year  being 
$2,645,722.19  less  than  those  of  1863.  The  decrease 
since  1860  in  the  annual  amount  of  transportation  has 
been  only  about  25  per  cent.,  but  the  annual  expenditure 
on  account  of  the  same  has  been  reduced  35  per  cent. 
It  is  manifest,  therefore,  that  the  Post  Office  Department 
may  become  self-sustaining  in  a  few  years,  even  with 
the  restoration  of  the  whole  service.   *  *  * 

The  quantity  of  land  disposed  of  during  the  last  and 
the  first  cjuarter  of  the  present  fiscal  years  was  3,841,549 
acres,  of  which  161,911  acres  were  sold  for  cash,  1,456,514 
acres  were  taken  up  under  the  homestead  law,  and  the 
^residue  disposed  of  under  laws  granting  lands  for  military 
bounties,  for  railroad  and  other  purposes.  It  also  appears 
that  the  sale  of  the  public  lands  is  largely  on  the  increase. 

It  has  long  been  a  cherished  opinion  of  some  of  our 
wisest  statesmen  that  the  people  of  the  United  States 
had  a  higher  and  more  enduring  interest  in  the  early 


302  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

settlement  and  substantial  cultivation  of  the  public  lands 
than  in  the  amount  of  direct  revenue  to  be  derived  from 
the  sale  of  them.  This  opinion,  has  had  a  controlling 
influence  in  shaping  legislation  upon  the  subject  of  our 
National  domain.  I  may  cite,  as  evidence  of  this,  the 
liberal  measures  adopted  in  reference  to  actual  settlers; 
the  grants  to  the  states  of  the  overflowed  lands 
within  their  limits,  in  order  to  their  being  reclaimed 
and  rendered  fit  for  cultivation;  the  grants  to  rail- 
way companies  of  alternate  sections  of  land  upon 
the  contemplated  lines  of  their  roads,  which,  when 
completed,  will  so  largely  multipl}^  the  facilities  for  reach- 
ing our  distant  possessions.  This  policy  has  received 
its  most  signal  and  beneficent  illustration  in  the  recent 
enactment  granting  homesteads  to  actual  settlers.  Since 
the  1st  day  of  January  last,  the  before-mentioned  quantity 
of  1,456,514  acres  of  land  have  been  taken  up  under  its 
provisions.  This  fact  and  the  amount  of  sales  furnish 
gratifying  evidence  of  increasing  settlement  upon  the 
public  lands,  notwithstanding  the  great  struggle  in  which 
the  energies  of  the  Nation  have  been  engaged,  and  which 
has  required  so  large  a  withdrawal  of  our  citizens  from 
their  accustomed   pursuits.  *   *   * 

The  measures  provided  at  your  last  session  for  the 
removal  of  certain  Indian  tribes,  have  been  carried  into 
effect.  Sundry  treaties  have  been  negotiated  which 
will,  in  due  time,  be  submittCLl  for  the  constitutional 
action  of  the  Senate.  They  contain  stipulations  for 
extinguishing  the  possessory  rights  of  the  Indians  to 
large  and  valuable  tracts  of  lands.  It  is  hoped  that 
the  effect  of  these  treaties  will  result  in  the  establish- 
ment of  permanent  friendly  relations  with  such  of  these 
tribes  as  have  been  brought  into  frequent  and  bloody 
collision  with  our  outlying  settlements   and  emigrants. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  303 

Sound  policy  and  our  imperative  duty  to  these  wards 
of  the  Government  demand  our  anxious  and  constant 
attention  to  their  material  well-being,  to  their  progress 
in  the  arts  of  civilization,  and  above  all,  to  that  moral 
training,  which,  under  the  blessing  of  Divine  Providence, 
will  confer  upon  them  the  elevated  and  sanctifying 
influences,  the  hopes  and  consolations  of  the  Christian 
faith.  *  *  * 

When  Congress  assembled  a  year  ago,  the  war  had 
already  lasted  nearly  twenty  months;  and  there  had  been 
many  conflicts  on  both  land  and  sea,  with  varying  results. 
The  rebellion  had  been  pressed  back  into  reduced  limits; 
yet  the  tone  of  public  feeling  and  opinion,  at  home  and 
abroad,  was  not  satisfactory.  With  other  signs,  the 
popular  elections,  then  just  past,  indicated  uneasiness 
among  ourselves,  while  amid  much  that  was  cold  and 
menacing,  the  kindest  words  coming  from  Europe  were 
uttered  in  accents  of  pity  that  we  were  too  blind  to 
surrender  a  hopeless  cause.  Our  commerce  was  suffering 
greatly  by  a  few  armed  vessels  built  upon  and  furnished 
from  foreign  shores;  and  we  were  threatened  with  such 
additions  from  the  same  quarter  as  would  sweep  our 
trade  from  the  sea  and  raise  our  blockade  We  had  failed 
to  elicit  from  European  Governments  anything  hopeful 
upon  this  subject.  The  preliminary  Emancipation  Proc- 
lamation, issued  in  September,  was  running  its  assigned 
period  to  the  beginning  of  the  new  year.  A  month  later 
the  final  proclamation  came,  including  the  announce- 
ment that  colored  men  of  suitable  condition  would  be 
received  into  the  war  service.  The  policy  of  emanci- 
pation, and  of  employing  black  soldiers,  gave  to  the 
future  a  new  aspect,  about  which  hope  and  fear  and 
doubt  contended  in  uncertain  conflict.  According  to 
our  political  system,  as  a  matter  of  civil  administration, 


304  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

the  General  Government  had  no  lawful  power  to  effect 
emancipation  in  any  State;  and  for  a  long  time  it  had 
been  hoped  that  the  rebellion  could  be  suppressed  with- 
out resorting  to  it  as  a  military  measure.  It  was  all  the 
while  deemed  possible  that  the  necessity  for  it  might 
come,  and  that  if  it  should,  the  crisis  of  the  contest  would 
then  be  presented.  It  came,  and  as  was  anticipated, 
it  was  followed  by  dark  and  doubtful  days.  Eleven 
months  having  now  passed,  we  are  permitted  to  take 
another  reAaew.  The  Rebel  borders  are  pressed  still 
further  back,  and  by  the  complete  opening  of  the  Missis- 
sippi the  country  dominated  by  the  rebellion  is  divided 
into  distinct  parts,  with  no  practical  comnmnication 
between  them.  Tennessee  and  Arkansas  have  been 
substantially  cleared  of  insurgent  control,  and  influential 
citizens  in  each,  owners  of  slaves  and  advocates  of  slavery 
at  the  beginning  of  the  rebellion,  now  declare  openly 
for  emancipation  in  their  respective  States.  Of  those 
States  not  included  in  the  Emancipation  Proclamation, 
Maryland  and  Missouri,  neither  of  which,  three  years 
ago,  would  tolerate  any  restraint  upon  the  extension 
of  slavery  into  new  Territories,  only  dispute  now  as  to 
the  best  mode  of  removing  it  within  their  own  limits. 

Of  those  who  were  slaves  at  the  beginning  of  the  rebellion 
full  one  hundred  thousand  are  now  in  the  United  States 
military  service,  about  one-half  of  which  number  actually 
bear  arms  in  the  ranks;  thus  giving  the  double  advantage 
of  taking  so  much  labor  from  the  insurgent  cause,  and 
supplying  the  places  which  otherwise  must  be  filled  with 
so  many  white  men.  So  far  as  tested,  it  is  difficult  to 
say  they  are  not  as  good  soldiers  as  any.  No  servile 
insurrection,  or  tendency  to  violence  or  cruelty,  has 
marked  the  measures  of  emancipation  and  arming  the 
blacks.    These  measures  have  been  much  discussed  in 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  305 

foreign  countries,  and  contemporary  with  such  discus- 
sion the  tone  of  pubUc  sentiment  there  is  much  improved. 
At  home  the  same  measures  have  been  fully  discussed, 
supported,  criticised,  and  denounced,  and  the  annual  elec- 
tions following  are  highly  encouraging  to  those  whose  official 
duty  it  is  to  bear  the  country  through  this  great  trial. 
Thus  we  have  the  new  reckoning  The  crisis  which 
threatened  to  divide  the  friends  of  the  Union  is  past. 

Looking  now  to  the  present  and  future,  and  with  refer- 
ence to  a  resumption  of  the  National  authority  within 
the  States  wherein  that  authority  has  been  suspended, 
I  have  thought  fit  to  issue  a  proclamation,  a  copy  of 
which  is  herewith  transmitted.  On  examination  of 
this  proclamation  it  will  appear,  as  is  believed,  that 
nothing  is  attempted  beyond  what  is  amply  justified 
by  the  Constitution.  True,  the  form  of  an  oath  is  given, 
but  no  man  is  coerced  to  take  it.  The  man  is  only 
promised  a  pardon  in  case  he  voluntarily  takes  the  oath. 
The  Constitution  authorizes  the  Executive  to  grant  or 
withhold  the  pardon  at  his  own  absolute  discretion;  and 
this  includes  the  power  to  grant  on  terms,  as  is  fully 
established  by  judicial  and  other  authorities. 

It  is  also  proffered  that  if,  in  any  of  the  States  named, 
a  State  Government  shall  be,  in  the  mode  prescribed, 
set  up,  such  Government  shall  be  recognized  and 
guaranteed  by  the  United  States,  and  that  under  it  the 
State  shall,  on  the  constitutional  conditions,  be  protected 
against  invasion  and  domestic  violence.  The  consti- 
tutional obligation  of  the  United  States  to  guarantee 
to  every  State  in  the  Union  a  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment, and  to  protect  the  State,  in  the  cases  stated,  is 
explicit  and  full.  But  why  tender  the  benefits  of  this 
provision  only  to  a  State  Government  set  up  in  this  par- 
ticular way?    This  section  of  the  Constitution  contem- 


306  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

plates  a  case  wherein  the  element  within  a  State  favon- 
able  to  republican  government,  in  the  Union,  may  be 
too  feeble  for  an  opposite  and  hostile  element  external 
to  or  even  within  the  State;  and  such  are  precisely  the 
cases   with   which   we   are   now   dealing. 

An  attempt  to  guarantee  and  protect  a  ^e^^ved  State 
Government,  constructed  in  whole,  or  in  preponderating 
part,  from  the  very  element  against  whose  hostility  and 
violence  it  is  to  be  protected  is  simply  absurd.    There 
must  be  a  test  by  which  to  separate  the  opposing  element, 
so  as  to  build  only  from  the  sound;  and  that  test  is  a 
sufficiently  liberal  one,  which  accepts  as  sound  whoever 
will  make  a  sworn  recantation  of  his  former  unsoimdness. 
But  if  it  be  proper  to  require,  as  a  test  of  admission 
to  the  political  body,  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  and   to  the  Union  under  it, 
why  also  to  the  laws  and  proclamations  in  regard   to 
slavery?    Those   laws   and   proclamations   were   enacted 
and  put  forth  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  in  the  suppression 
of  the  rebellion.     To  give  them  their  fullest  effect,  there 
had  to  be  a  pledge  for  their  maintenance.     In  my  judg- 
ment they  have  aided,  and  will  further  aid,  the  cause  for 
which    they    were    intended.     To    now    abandon    them 
would  be  not  only  to  relinquish  a  lever  of  power,  but 
would  also  be  a  cruel  and  an  astounding  breach  of  faith. 
I  may  add  at  this  point  that,  while  I  remain  in  my  present 
position,  I  shall  not  attempt  to  retract  or  modify  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation;  nor  shall  I  return  to  slavery 
any  person  who  is  free  by  the  terms  of  that  proclamation, 
or  by  any  of  the  acts  of  Congress.     For  these  and  other 
reasons,  it  is  thought  best  that  support  of  these  measures 
shall  be  included  in  the  oath;  and  it  is  believed  the  Ex- 
ecutive may  lawfully  claim  it  in  return  for  pardon  and 
restoration  of  forfeited  rights,  which  he  has  clear  con- 


Life  op  Abraham  Lincoln.  307 

stitutional  power  to  withhold  altogether,  or  grant  upon 
the  terms  which  he  shall  deem  wisest  for  the  public 
interest.  It  should  be  observed,  also,  that  this  part 
of  the  oath  is  subject  to  the  modifying  and  abrogating 
power   of  legislation   and   supreme   judicial   decision. 

The  proposed  acquiescence  of  the  National  Executive 
in  any  reasonable  temporary  State  arrangement  for  the 
freed  people  is  made  with  the  view  of  possibly  modifying 
the  confusion  and  destitution  which  must,  at  best,  attend 
all  classes  by  a  total  revolution  of  labor  throughout  whole 
States.  It  is  hoped  that  the  already  deeply  afflicted 
people  in  those  States  may  be  somewhat  more  ready  to 
give  up  the  cause  of  their  affliction,  if,  to  tliis  extent,  this 
vital  matter  be  left  to  themselves;  while  no  power  of  the 
National  Executive  to  prevent  an  abuse,  is  abridged  by 
the  proposition. 

The  suggestion  in  the  proclamation  as  to  maintaining  the 
political  framework  of  the  States  on  what  is  called  recon- 
struction, is  made  in  the  hope  that  it  may  do  good  without 
danger  of  harm.   It  will  save  labor  and  avoid  confusion. 

But  why  any  proclamation  now  upon  this  subject?  This 
question  is  beset  with  the  conflicting  views  that  the  step 
might  be  delayed  too  long  or  be  taken  too  soon.  In  some 
States  the  elements  for  resumption  seem  ready  for  action, 
but  remain  inactive,  apparently  for  want  of  a  rallying  point 
— a  plan  of  action.  ^A''hy  shall  A  adopt  the  plan  of  B, 
rather  than  B  that  of  A?  And  if  A  and  B  should  agree, 
how  can  they  know  but  that  the  General  Government  here 
will  reject  their  plan?  By  the  proclamation  a  plan  is 
presented  which  may  be  accepted  by  them  as  a  rallying 
point,  and  which  they  are  assured  in  advance  will  not  be 
rejected  here.  This  may  bring  them  to  act  sooner  than 
they  otherwise  would. 

The  objection  to  a  premature  presentation  of  a  plan  by 


308  Life  of  Abrah.a.m  Lixcolx. 

the  National  Executive  consists  in  the  danger  of  committals 
on  points  which  could  be  more  safelyleft  to  further  develop- 
ment. Care  has  been  taken  to  so  shape  the  document  as  to 
avoid  embarrassments  from  this  source.  Saying  that,  on 
certain  terms,  certain  classes  will  be  pardoned,  with  rights 
restored,  it  is  not  said  that  other  classes  or  other  terms  will 
never  be  included.  Sa3'ing  that  reconstruction  will  be  ac- 
cepted, if  presented  in  a  specified  way,  it  is  not  said  it  will 
never  be  accepted  in  any  other  way. 

The  movements,  by  State  action,  for  emancipation  in 
several  of  the  States,  not  included  in  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation,  are  matters  of  profound  gratulation.  And 
wliile  I  do  not  repeat  in  detail  what  I  have  heretofore  so 
earnestly  urged  upon  this  subject,  my  general  %'iews  and 
feelings  remain  unchanged;  and  I  trust  that  Congress  will 
omit  no  fair  opportmiity  of  aiding  these  important  steps 
to  a  great  consummation. 

In  the  midst  of  other  cares,  however  important,  we  must 
not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  war  power  is  still  our 
main  reliance.  To  that  power  alone  can  we  look,  yet  for 
a  time,  to  give  confidence  to  the  people  in  the  contested 
regions  that  the  insurgent  power  will  not  again  o\'errun 
them.  Until  that  confidence  shall  be  established,  little 
can  be  done  an5n;vhere  for  what  is  called  reconstruction. 
Hence  our  cliiefest  care  must  still  be  directed  to  the  .\rmy 
and  Na\'y',  who  have  thus  far  borne  their  harder  part  so 
nobly  and  well.  And  it  may  be  esteemed  fortunate  that 
in  gi^'ing  the  greatest  efficiency  to  these  indispensable 
arms,  we  do  also  honorably  recognize  the  gallent  men, 
from  commander  to  sentinel,  who  compose  them,  and  to 
whom,  more  than  to  others,  the  world  must  stand  indebted 
for  the  home  of  freedom  disinthralled,  regenerated,  en- 
larged, and  perpuated. 

Dece.mber  8, 1863.  Abr.\ham  Lincoln. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  309 

The  following  speech,  delivered  by  Mr.  Lincoln  on  the 
ISth  of  April,  1864,  at  a  fair  held  at  Baltimore  for  the 
benefit  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission,  is  par- 
ticularly suggestive,  in  regard  to  the  date,  place,  and  occa- 
sion of  its  delivery.  On  his  way  to  Washington,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1S61,  he  passed  through  the  city  of  Baltimore  in- 
cognito, to  escape  from  a  plot  of  assassination,  of  which  he 
had  been  forewarned.  On  the  19th  of  April,  in  the  same 
year,  the  blood  of  loyal  soldiers,  on  marching  to  protect 
the  National  Capital,  had  flowed  in  the  streets  of  that  city. 
He  now  stood  before  an  immense  throng  in  the  same  city, 
on  the  anniversary  eve  of  the  assault  upon  those  soldiers, 
at  the  fair  in  aid  of  an  organization  for  the  benefit  of  Union 
soldiers  everywhere.  He  spoke,  too,  of  slavery,  and  was 
loudly  cheered  when  he  referred  to  the  practically  accom- 
plished annihilation  of  that  institution  in  Maryland.  He 
even  took  this  opportunity— the  first  public  occasion  pre- 
sented—to announce  his  determined  purpose  of  enforcing 
retaliation  (long  before  enjoined  on  the  army  by  special 
orders)  for  the  crime,  then  just  perpetrated,  of  massacre- 
ing  the  colored  garrison  of  Fort  Pillow,  'refusing  quarter. 

After  the  cheering  had  ended,  and  after,  with  great  exer- 
tions, order  had  been  secured — everybody  being  anxious 
to  see  the  President — he  said,  substantially: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Calling  it  to  mind  that  we 
are  in  Baltimore,  we  can  not  fail  to  note  that  the  world 
moves.  [Applause.]  Looking  upon  the  many  people  I 
see  assembled  here  to  serve  as  they  best  may  the  soldiers 
of  the  Union,  it  occurs  to  me  that  three  years  ago  those 
soldiers  could  not  pass  through  Baltimore.  I  would  say, 
blessings  upon  the  men  who  have  wrought  these  changes, 
and  the  ladies  who  have  assisted  them.  [Applause.]  This 
change  which  has  taken  place  in  Baltimore,  is  part  only  of 


310  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

a  far  wider  change  that  is  taking  place  all  over  the  country. 

When  the  war  commenced,  three  years  ago,  no  one  ex- 
pected that  it  would  last  tliis  long,  and  no  one  supposed 
that  the  institution  of  slavery  would  be  materially  affected 
by  it.  But  here  we  are.  The  war  is  not  yet  ended,  and 
slavery  has  been  very  materially  affected  or  interfered 
with.  [Loud  applause.]  So  true  it  is  that  man  proposes 
and  God  disposes. 

The  world  is  in  want  of  a  good  definition  of  the  word 
liberty.  We  all  declare  ourselves  to  be  for  liberty,  but  we 
do  not  all  mean  the  same  thing.  Some  mean  that  a  man 
can  do  as  he  pleases  with  himself  and  his  property.  With 
others,  it  means  that  some  men  can  do  as  they  please  with 
other  men  and  other  men's  labor."  Each  of  these  things 
is  called  liberty,  although  they  are  entirely  different.  To 
give  an  illustration :  A  shepherd  drives  the  wolf  from  the 
throat  of  his  sheep  when  attacked  by  him,  and  the  sheep, 
of  course,  thanks  the  shepherd  for  the  preservation  of  his 
life;  but  the  wolf  denounces  him  as  despoiling  the  sheep  of 
his  liberty — especially  if  it  be  a  black  sheep.    [Applause.] 

This  same  difference  of  opinion  prevails  among  some  of 
the  people  of  the  North.  But  the  people  of  Maryland  have 
recently  been  doing  something  to  properly  define  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word,  and  I  thank  them  from  the  bottom  of  my 
heart  for  what  they  have  done  and  are  doing.     [Applause.] 

It  is  not  very  becoming  for  a  President  to  make  a  speech 
at  great  length,  but  there  is  a  painful  rumor  afloat  in  the 
country,  in  reference  to  which  a  few  words  shall  be  said. 
It  is  reported  that  there  has  been  a  wanton  massacre  of 
some  hundreds  of  colored  soldiers  at  Fort  Pillow,  Tennessee, 
during  a  recent  engagement  there,  and  it  is  fit  to  explain 
some  facts  in  relation  to  the  affair.  It  is  said  by  some  per- 
sons that  the  Government  is  not,  in  this  matter,  doing  its 
duty.    At  the  commencement  of  the  war,  it  was  doubtful 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  311 

whether  black  men  would  be  used  as  soldiers  or  not.  The 
matter  was  examined  into  very  carefully,  and  after  mature 
deliberation,  the  whole  matter  resting  as  it  were  with  him- 
self, he,  in  his  judgment,  decided  that  they  should.  [Ap- 
plause.] 

He  was  responsible  for  the  act  to  the  American  people, 
to  a  Christian  nation,  to  the  future  historian,  and,  above 
all,  to  his  God,  to  whom  he  would  have,  one  day,  to  render 
an  account  of  his  stewardship.  He  would  now  say  that  in 
his  opinion  the  black  soldier  should  have  the  same  protec- 
tion as  the  white  soldier,  and  he  would  have  it.  [Applause.] 
It  was  an  error  to  say  that  the  Government  was  not  acting 
in  the  matter.  The  Government  has  no  direct  evidence 
to  confirm  the  reports  in  existence  relative  to  this  massacre, 
but  he  himself  believed  the  facts  in  relation  to  it  to  be  as 
stated.  When  the  Government  does  know  the  facts  from 
official  sources,  and  they  prove  to  substantiate  the  reports, 
retribution  will  be  surely  given.     [Applause.] 

A  month  earlier,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  made  the  following 
happy  response  to  a  call  of  the  assembled  multitude  at  a 
fair,  for  similar  objects,  held  in  Washington. 

•  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  I  appear,  to  say  but  a  word. 
This  extraordinary  war  in  which  we  are  engaged  falls 
heavily  upon  all  classes  of  people  but  the  most  heavily 
upon  the  soldier.  For  it  has  been  said,  all  that  a  man 
hath  will  he  give  for  his  life;  and,  while  all  contribute  of 
their  substance,  the  soldier  puts  his  life  at  stake,  and  often 
yields  it  up  in  his  country's  cause.  The  highest  merit, 
then,  is  due  to  the  soldier. 

In  this  extraordinary  war,  extraordinary  developments 
have  manifested  themselves,  such  as  have  not  been  seen 
in  former  wars;  and  among  these  manifestations  nothing 


312  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

has  been  more  remarkable  than  these  fairs  for  the  rchef  of 
suffering  soldiers  and  their  families.  And  the  chief  agents 
in  these  fairs  are  the  women  of  America.  I  am  not  ac- 
customed to  the  use  of  the  language  of  eulogy;  I  have  never 
studied  the  art  of  paying  compliments  to  women;  but  I 
must  say  that,  if  all  that  has  been  said  by  orators  and  poets, 
since  the  creation  of  the  world,  in  praise  of  women,  were 
applied  to  the  women  of  America,  it  would  not  do  them 
justice  for  their  conduct  during  this  war.  I  will  close  by 
saying,  God  bless  the  women  of  America.    [Great  applause.] 

Of  necessity,  the  questions  relating  to  slavery  and  the 
African  element  of  our  population,  have  occupied  the  fore- 
most ground  during  all  this  great  struggle,  in  which  Mr. 
LiNXOLN  has  been  called  to  lead  the  organized  action  of  the 
nation.  His  whole  policy  on  this  general  subject,  and  a 
concise  history  of  liis  action  and  of  the  processes  of  his 
mind  thereon,  are  set  forth  with  admirable  frankness  and 
precision  in  the  following  letter  to  a  gentleman  in  Ken- 
tucky : 

Executive  Mansiox, 
Washington,  April  4,  1864. 

A.  G.  Hodges,  Esq.,  Frankfort,  Ky.~My  Dear  Sir. 
You  ask  me  to  put  in  wTiting  the  substance  of  what  I  ver- 
bally said,  the  other  day,  in  your  presence,  to  Gov.  Bram- 
lette  and  Senator  Dixon.     It  was  about  as  follows: 

I  am  naturally  anti-slavery.  If  slavery  is  not  v.Tong, 
nothing  is  wrong.  I  can  not  remember  when  I  did  not  so 
think  and  feel.  And  yet,  I  have  never  understood  that  the 
Presidency  conferred  upon  me  an  unrestricted  right  to  act 
officially  upon  tliis  judgment  and  feeling.  It  was  in  the 
oath  I  took,  that  I  would,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  preserve, 
protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
I  could  not  take  the  office  without  taking  the  oath.     Nor 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  313 

was  it  my  view,  that  I  might  take  an  oath  to  get  power, 
and  break  the  oath  in  using  the  power.  I  understood,  too, 
that,  in  ordinary  civil  administration,  this  oath  even  for- 
bade me  to  practically  indulge  my  primary,  abstract  judg- 
ment, on  the  moral  question  of  slavery.  I  had  publicly 
declared  tliis  many  times,  and  in  many  ways.  And  I  aver 
that,  to  this  day,  I  have  done  no  official  act  in  mere  defer- 
ence to  my  abstract  judgment  and  feeling  on  slavery. 

I  did  understand,  however,  that  my  oath  to  preserve  the 
Constitution  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  imposed  upon  me 
the  duty  of  preserving,  by  every  indispensable  means,  that 
Government — that  Nation — of  which  that  Constitution 
was  the  organic  law.  Was  it  possible  to  lose  the  Nation, 
and  yet  preserve  the  Constitution? 

By  general  law,  life  and  limb  must  be  protected;  yet 
often  a  limb  must  be  amputated  to  save  a  life ;  but  a  life 
is  never  wisely  given  to  save  a  hmb.  I  feel  that  measures, 
otherwise  unconstitutional,  might  become  lawful,  by  be- 
coming indispensable  to  the  preservation  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, through  the  preservation  of  the  Nation.  Right  or 
wrong,  I  assumed  this  ground,  and  now  avow  it.  I  could 
not  feel  that  to  the  best  of  my  ability  I  had  even  tried  to 
preserve  the  Constitution,  if  to  save  slavery  or  any  minor 
matter,  I  should  permit  the  \vreck  of  Government,  Country 
and  Constitution,  all  together.  When  early  in  the  war, 
Gen.  Fremont  attempted  military  emancipation  I  forbade 
it,  because  I  did  not  then  think  it  an  indispensable  neces- 
sity. When  a  little  later,  Gen.  Cameron,  then  Secretary 
of  War,  suggested  the  arming  of  the  blacks,  I  objected, 
because  I  did  not  yet  think  it  an  indispensable  necessity. 
When,  still  later.  Gen.  Hunter  attempted  military  eman- 
cipation, I  again  forbade  it,  because  I  did  not  yet  think 
the  indispensable  necessity  had  come. 

AVhen,  in  March,  and  May,  and  July,  1862, 1  made  ear- 


314  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

nest  and  successive  appeals  to  the  Border  States  to  favor 
compensated  emancipation,  I  believed  the  indispensable 
necessity  for  military  emancipation  and  arming  the  blacks 
would  come  unless  averted  by  that  measure.  They  declined 
the  proposition,  and  I  was,  in  my  best  judgment,  driven 
to  the  alternative  of  either  surrendering  the  Union,  and 
with  it  the  Constitution,  or  of  laying  a  strong  hand  upon 
the  colored  element.  I  chose  the  latter.  In  choosing  it,  I 
hoped  for  greater  gain  than  loss ;  but  of  this  I  was  not  en- 
tirely confident.  More  than  a  year  of  trial  now  shows  no 
loss  by  it,  in  our  foreign  relations ;  none  in  our  home  popular 
sentiment;  none  in  our  white  military  force — no  loss  by  it 
anyhow  or  anywhere.  On  the  contrary,  it  shows  a  gain 
of  quite  a  hundred  and  thrity  thousand  soldiers,  seamen, 
and  laborers.  These  are  palpable  facts,  about  which,  as 
facts,  there  can  be  no  caviHng.  We  have  the  men,  and  we 
could  not  have  had  them  without  the  measure. 

And  now  let  any  Union  man  who  complains  of  the  meas- 
ure, test  himself,  by  writing  down  in  one  line  that  he  is 
for  subduing  the  rebellion  by  force  of  arms,  and  in  the  next 
that  he  is  for  taking  these  130,000  men  from  the  Union 
side,  and  placing  them  where  they  would  be,  but  for  the 
measure  he  condemns.  If  he  can  not  face  his  cause  so 
stated,  it  is  only  because  he  can  not  face  the  truth. 

I  add  a  word,  which  was  not  in  the  verbal  conversation. 
In  telling  this  tale,  I  attempt  no  compliment  to  my  own 
sagacity.  I  claim  not  to  have  controlled  events,  but  con- 
fess plainly  that  events  have  controlled  me.  Now,  at  the 
end  of  three  years'  struggle,  the  Nation's  condition  is  not 
what  either  party  or  any  man  devised  or  expected.  God 
alone  can  claim  it.  Whither  it  is  tending,  seems  plain. 
If  God  now  wills  the  removal  of  a  great  wrong,  and  wills  also 
that  we  of  the  North,  as  well  as  you  of  the  South,  shall  pay 
fairly  for  our  complicity  in  that  wrong,  impartial  history 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  315 

will  find  therein  new  cause  to  attest  and  revere  the  justice 
and  goodness  of  God. 

Yours  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

General  Order,  No.  100,  under  date  of  April  24,  1863, 
promulgating  general  instructions  for  the  government 
of  our  armies,  "previously  approved  by  the  President," 
contains  the  following  directions,  specially  enjoining  the 
the  protection    of  colored  troops: 

The  law  of  nations  knows  of  no  distinction  of  color, 
and  if  an  enemy  of  the  United  States  should  enslave  and 
sell  any  captured  persons  of  their  army,  it  would  be  a 
case  for  the  severest  retaliation,  if  not  redressed  upon 
complaint.  The  United  States  can  not  retaliate  by 
enslavement;  therefore,  death  must  be  the  retaliation 
for  this  crime  against  the  law  of  nations. 

All  troops  of  the  enemy  known  or  discovered  to  give 
no  quarter  in  general,  or  to  any  portion  of  the  army, 
receive   none. 

Mr.  Lincoln  made  these  instructions  more  explicit 
and  direct,  in  the  following  order  issued  by  himself  as 
Commander-in-Chief,  and  communicated  to  the  entire 
Army,  referring  to  tliis  subject  alone: 


Executive  Mansion 
Washington,  July  30,  1S63 


)N         ) 

863.  i 


It  is  the  duty. of  every  Government  to  give  protection 
to  its  citizens,  of  whatever  class,  color  or  condition,  and 
especially  to  those  who  are  duly  organized  as  soldiers  in 
the  public  service.  The  law  of  Nations,  and  the  usages 
and  customs  of  war,  as  carried  on  by  civilized  powers, 
permit  no  distinction  as  to  color  in  the  treatment  of 
prisoners  of  war  as  public  enemies.     To  sell  or  enslave 


316  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

any  captured  person,  on  account  of  his  color,  and  for 
no  offense  against  tlie  laws  of  war,  is  a  relapse  into  bar- 
barism, and  a  crime  against  the  civilization  of  the  age. 

The  Ciovernment  of  the  United  States  will  give  the 
same  protection  to  all  its  soldiers;  and  if  the  enemy  shall 
sell  or  enslave  any  one  because  of  his  color,  the  offense 
shall  be  punished  by  retaliation  upon  the  enemy's  pris- 
oners in  our  possession. 

It  is  therefore  ordered,  that  for  every  soldier  of  the 
United  States  killed  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  war,  a 
Rebel  soldier  shall  be  executed ;  and  for  every  one  enslaved 
by  the  enemy  or  sold  into  slavery,  a  Rebel  soldier  shall 
be  placed  at  hard  labor  on  the  public  works,  and  continued 
at  such  labor  until  the  other  shall  be  released  and  re- 
ceive the  treatment  due  to  a  prisoner  of  war. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
Mr.  Lincoln  Renominated. 

As  the  time  approached  at  which  nominations  were  to 
be  made  for  the  offices  of  President  and  Vice-President  for 
the  ensuing  Presidential  term,  it  naturally  happened  that 
the  public  acts  and  personal  character  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln  came  to  receive  more  particular  consideration  among 
the  people  in  all  parts  of  the  nation,  and  also  in  the  countries 
of  Europe,  than  at  any  previous  period  during  his  ad- 
ministration. His  policy  was  freely  discussed,  his  conduct 
of  affairs,  domestic  and  foreign,  was  canvassed  with  the 
unrestricted  freedom  which  accords  with  the  genius  of 
republican  institutions;  and  it  soon  became  evident  that 
the  coming  election,  whatever  its  other  results,  was  at 
least  to  determine  the  popular  verdict  upon  Mr.  Lincoln's 
management  of  affairs  thus  far,  and  upon  his  fitness  for 
completing  the  work  in  progress.  The  brief  summary  of 
the  events  of  the  war  heretofore  given  has  failed  to  present 
clearly  the  exact  position  of  the  great  struggle,  if  it  is  not 
manifest  to  the  reader  that  the  moment  when  the  prelimi- 
nary decision  was  to  be  had,  by  representatives  of  the  dom- 
inant party,  "fresh  from  the  people,"  in  national  conven- 
tion, was  not  so  specially  favorable  as  to  insure  an  indorse- 
ment of  the  President  Tom  a  merely  temporary  bias  or 
caprice. 

President  Lincoln  himself  was  not  deceived,  however 
gratified  he  might  have  been  with  such  successes  as  had 
been  first  gained,  as  to  the  desperation  with  which  the 

317 


318  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

military  campaigns  of  the  season  were  to  be  contested. 
His  customary  moderation  of  tone,  and  his  habitual  con- 
fidence in  the  cause,  appear  in  the  following  speech  in  re- 
sponse to  a  serenade,  on  the  night  of  May  9th,  after  the 
Wilderness  battles: 

Fellow-Citizexs:  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for 
the  compliment  of  this  call,  though  I  apprehend  it  is  owing 
more  to  the  good  news  received  to-day  from  the  army  than 
to  a  desire  to  see  me.  I  am,  indeed,  very  grateful  to  the 
brave  men  who  have  been  struggling  with  the  enemy  in  the 
field,  to  their  noble  commanders  who  have  directed  them, 
and  especially  to  our  Maker.  Our  commanders  are  follow- 
ing up  their  victories  resolutely  and  successfully.  I  think, 
without  knowing  the  particulars  of  the  plans  of  Gen.  Grant, 
that  what  has  been  accomplished  is  of  more  importance 
than  at  first  appears.  I  believe  I  know  (and  am  especially 
grateful  to  know),  that  Gen.  Grant  has  not  been  jostled  in 
his  purposes;  that  he  has  made  all  his  points;  and  to-day 
he  is  on  his  line,  as  he  purposed  before  he  moved  his  armies. 
I  will  volunteer  to  say  that  I  am  very  glad  at  what  has 
happened ;  but  there  is  a  great  deal  still  to  be  done.  While 
we  are  grateful  to  all  the  brave  men  and  officers  for  the 
events  of  the  past  few  da3's,  we  should,  above  all,  be  very 
grateful  to  Almighty  God,  who  gives  us  victory. 

There  is  enough  yet  before  us  requiring  all  loyal  men  and 
patriots  to  perform  their  share  of  the  labor  and  follow  the 
example  of  the  modest  General  at  the  head  of  our  armies, 
and  sink  all  personal  considerations  for  the  sake  of  the 
country.  I  commend  you  to  keep  yourselves  in  the  same 
tranquil  mood  that  is  characteristic  of  that  brave  and  loyal 
man.  I  have  said  more  than  I  expected  when  I  came  be- 
fore you ;  repeating  my  thanks  for  tliis  call,  I  bid  you  good 
bye.     [Cheers.] 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  319 

The  keynote  of  the  convention  may  be  said  to  have  been 
given  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  R.  J.  Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky,  who 
was  selected  as  the  temporary  presiding  officer.  This  dis- 
tinguished gentleman  had  been  chosen  as  a  delegate  by 
the  Kentucky  State  convention,  after  assuring  that  body 
that  he  would  only  accept  the  trust  on  condition  of  being 
instructed  to  vote  "  first,  last,  and  all  the  time  for  Abraham 
Lincoln."  Dr.  Breckinridge's  declaration  of  his  life-long 
conviction  of  the  evil  and  wrong  of  slavery,  and  his  earnest 
desire  for  its  extinction  throughout  the  land,  was  received 
with  such  applause  as  showed  an  entire  harmony  of  feeling 
in  regard  to  eradicating  the  "  cause  "  of  the  rebellion.  But 
scarcely  less  emphatic  was  the  applause  which  had  pre- 
viously greeted  him  when  he  said : 

In  tne  first  place  nothing  can  be  more  plain  than  the  fact 
that  you  are  here  as  the  representatives  of  a  great  nation — 
voluntary  representatives  chosen  without  forms  of  law,  but 
as  really  representing  the  feelings,  the  principles,  and  if 
you  choose,  the  prejudices  of  the  American  people,  as  if  it 
were  written  in  laws  and  already  passed  by  votes — for  the 
man  that  you  will  nominate  here  for  the  Presidency  of  the 
United  States,  and  ruler  of  a  great  people  in  a  great  crisis, 
is  just  as  certain,  I  suppose,  to  become  that  ruler,  as  any 
thing  under  heaven  is  certain  before  it  is  done.  And, 
moreover,  you  will  allow  me  to  say— though,  perhaps,  it 
is  hardly  strictly  proper  that  I  should — but  as  far  as  I 
know  your  opinions,  I  suppose  it  is  just  as  certain  now, 
before  you  utter  it,  whose  name  you  will  utter,  and  which 
will  be  responded  to  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  this 
nation,  as  it  will  be  after  it  has  been  uttered  and  recorded 
by  your  secretary.  Does  any  man  doubt  that  this  con- 
vention intends  to  say  that  Abraham  Lincoln  shall  be 
the  nominee?    [Great  applause.] 


320  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Ex-Governor  William  Dennison,  of  Oliio,  was  chosen 
permanent  Chairman  of  the  convention.  Delegates  were 
admitted  from  such  of  the  Territories  as  had  sent  them, 
and  from  the  District  of  Columbia.  Questions  arose  in 
regard  to  the  admission  of  delegates  from  Tennessee, 
Louisiana,  Arkansas  and  Virginia:  (West  ^^irginia  was 
duly  represented);  and  there  were  two  contesting  delega- 
tions from  Missouri,  representing  the  two  parties  there. 
The  Convention  admitted  the  "Radical"  delegation  with 
almost  entire  unanimity.  The  delegates  from  Tennessee, 
Louisiana  and  Arkansas  were  cordially  received.  The 
Virginia  delegation  was  excluded. 

On  the  ballot  for  the  Presidential  candidate,  Mr.  Lincoln 
received  every  vote  in  the  convention,  with  the  single 
exception  of  the  delegation  from  Missouri,  whose  vote  was 
changed,  making  the  nomination  unanimous.  The  joyous 
demonstrations  with  which  this  announcement  was  re- 
ceived in  the  veritable  city  of  Baltimore,  only  three  years 
before  so  hostile,  and  not  yet  free  from  slavery,  were  in 
keeping  with  the  general  satisfaction  felt  throughout  the 
country,  at  the  consummation  of  this  expected  result. 

The  ballot  on  the  nomination  of  Vice-President  stood, 
before  any  changes,  as  follows:  Andrew  Johnson,  of  Ten- 
nessee, 200;  Hannibal  Hamlin,  of  IMaine,  145;  Daniel  S. 
Dickinson,  of  New  York,  113;  B.  F.  Butler,  of  Massachu- 
setts, 28;  Lovell  H.  Rosseau,  of  Kentucky,  21;  all  others 
12.  The  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Iowa,  Tennessee,  Arkan- 
sas, West  Virginia,  Delaware  and  Connecticut,  voted 
unitedly  for  Governor  Johnson.  A  majority  of  the  votes 
of  New  York  and  Vermont  were  also  cast  in  the  same 
direction.  A  sufficient  number  of  votes  were  at  once 
changed  to  give  a  majority  to  Andrew  Johnson,  and  he  was 
unanimously  declared  the  nominee  for  Vice-President. 


t. 


.^SbS..^ 


HON.  JOHN  SHERMAN 


GEN.  JNO.  C   FREMONT. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  321 

Immediately  after  the  Convention,  a  committed  of  one 
from  each  State  represented  therein,  waited  on  the  Presi- 
dent, orally  communicating  the  fact  of  his  re-nomination, 
and  presenting  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  resolutions.  Re- 
sponding to  the  address  of  their  Chairman,  Mr.  Lincoln 
said : 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee:  I 
will  neither  conceal  my  gratification  nor  restrain  the  ex- 
pression of  my  gratitude  that  the  Union  people  through 
their  convention,  in  the  continued  effort  to  save  and  ad- 
vance the  nation,  have  deemed  me  not  imworthy  to  remain 
in  my  present  position. 

I  know  no  reason  to  doubt  that  I  shall  accept  the  nomina- 
tion tendered;  and  yet,  perhaps,  I  should  not  declare  defi- 
nitely before  reading  and  considering  what  is  called  the 
platform. 

I  will  say  now,  however,  I  approve  the  declaration  in 
favor  of  so  amending  the  Constitution  as  to  prohibit  slavery 
throughout  the  nation.  When  the  people  in  revolt,  with 
a  hundred  days  of  explicit  notice  that  they  could  within 
those  days  resume  their  allegiance  without  the  overthrow 
of  their  institutions,  and  that  they  could  not  resume  it 
afterward,  elected  to  stamd  out,  such  amendments  to  the 
Constitution  as  are  now  proposed  became  a  fitting  and 
necessary  conclusion  to  the  final  success  of  the  Union 
cause.  Such  alone  can  meet  and  cover  all  cavils.  Now, 
the  unconditional  Union  men,  North  and  South,  perceive 
its  importance  and  embrace  it.  In  the  joint  names  of 
Liberty  and  Union,  let  us  labor  to  give  it  legal  form  and 
practical  effect. 

In  response  to  a  call  from  the  Ohio  delegation  in  the 
Baltimore  Convention,  accompanied  by  Menter's  band, 
of  Cincinnati,  the  President  remarked: 


322  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Gentlemen:  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  this 
compliment.  I  have  just  been  sa^dng,  and  as  I  have 
just  said  it,  I  will  repeat  it:  The  hardest  of  all  speeches 
which  I  have  to  answer  is  a  serenade.  I  never  know 
what  to  say  on  such  occasions.  I  suppose  that  you 
have  done  me  this  kindness  in  connection  with  the  action 
of  the  Baltimore  Convention  which  has  recently  taken 
place,  and  \vith  which,  of  course,  I  am  very  well  satisfied. 
[Laughter  and  applause.]  What  we  want  still  more 
than  Baltimore  Conventions  or  Presidential  elections  is 
success  under  General  Grant.  [Cries  of  "Good,"  and 
applause.]  I  propose  that  you  constantly  bear  in  mind 
that  the  support  you  owe  to  the  brave  officers  and  sol- 
diers in  the  field  is  of  the  very  first  importance,  and  we 
should  therefore  bend  all  our  energies  to  that  point. 
Now,  without  detaining  you  any  longer,  I  propose  that 
you  help  me  to  close  up  what  I  am  now  saying  with  three 
rousing  cheers  for  General  Grant  and  the  officers  and 
soldiers  under  Ms  command. 

The  Committee  to  notify  President  Lincoln  of  his 
re-nomination  subsequently  transmitted  to  'him  a  letter, 
formally  announcing  the  choice  of  the  Convention. 

To  this  letter  Mr.  Lincoln  replied  in  the  following 
words : 

Executive  Mansion,  1 
Washington,  June  27,  1864.  ) 
Hon.  William  Dennison  and  others,  a  Committee 
of  the  Union  National  Convention:  Gentlemen — Your 
letter  of  the  14th  instant,  formall;^  notifying  me  that 
I  have  been  nominated  by  the  Convention  you  represent 
for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States,  for  four  years 
from  the  4th  of  March  next,  has  been  received.  The 
nomination  is  gratefully  accepted,  as  the    resolutions  of 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  323 

the  Convention,  called  the  platform,  are  heartily  approved. 

While  the  resolution  in  regard  to  the  supplanting  of 
republican  government  upon  the  Western  Continent  is 
fully  concurred  in,  there  might  be  misunderstanding 
were  I  not  to  say  that  the  position  of  the  Government  in 
relation  to  the  action  of  France  and  Mexico,  as  assumed 
through  the  State  Department,  and  indorsed  by  the 
Convention,  among  the  measures  and  acts  of  the  Executive, 
will  be  faithfully  maintained  so  long  as  the  state  of 
facts  shall  leave  that  position  pertinent  and  applicable. 

I  am  especially  gratified  that  the  soldier  and  the  sea- 
men were  not  forgotten  by  the  Convention,  as  they  for- 
ever must  and  will  be  remembered  by  the  grateful  country 
for  whose  salvation  they  devote  their  lives. 

Thanking  you  for  the  kind  and  complimentary  terms 
in  which  j'ou  have  communicated  the  nomination  and 
other  proceedings  of  the  Convention,  I  subscribe  my- 
self. Your  obedient  servant, 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

On  the  day  following  the  memorable  victory  at  Cedar 
Creek,  the  President  issued  the  following  proclamation, 
for  a  day  of  national  thankgiving: 

A  Proclamation. 

It  has  pleased  Almighty  God  to  prolong  our  national 
life  another  year,  defending  us  with  his  guardian 
care  against  unfriendly  designs  from  abroad,  and  vouch- 
safing to  us  in  His  mercy  many  and  signal  victories  over 
the  enemy,  who  is  of  our  own  household.  It  had  also 
pleased  our  Heavenly  Father  to  favor  as  well  our  citizens 
in  their  homes  as  our  soldiers  in  their  camps,  and  our 
sailors  on  the  rivers  and  seas,  with  unusual  health.     He 


334  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

has  largely  augmenteil  our  free  population  by  emanci- 
pation and  by  immigration,  while  He  has  opened  to  us 
new  sources  of  wealth,  and  has  crowned  the  labor  of  our 
workingmen  in  every  department  of  industry  with  abun- 
dant rewards.  Moreover,  Heh  as  been  pleased  to  animate 
and  inspire  our  minds  and  hearts  with  fortitude,  courage, 
and  resolution  sufficient  for  the  great  trial  of  civil  war, 
into  which  we  have  been  brought  by  our  adherence  as 
a  nation  to  the  cause  of  freedom  and  humanity,  and 
to  afford  to  us  reasonable  hopes  of  an  ultimate  and  happy 
deliverance  from  all  our  dangers  and  afflictions. 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincolx,  President  of 
the  United  States,  do  hereby  appoint  and  set  apart  the 
last  Thursday  of  November  next  as  a  day  which  I  desire  to 
be  observed  by  all  my  fellow-citizens,  wherever  they 
may  be,  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving  and  praise  to  Almighty 
God,  the  beneficent  Creator  and  Ruler  of  the  Universe. 
And  I  do  further  recommend  to  my  fellow-citizens  afore- 
said, that,  on  that  occasion,  they  do  reverently  humble 
themselves  in  the  dust,  and  from  thence  offer  up  penitent 
and  fervent  prayers  and  supplications  to  the  Great  Dis- 
poser of  events  for  a  return  of  the  inestimable  blessings 
of  peace,  union,  and  harmony  throughout  the  land  which 
it  has  pleased  Him  to  assign  as  a  dwelling-place  for  our- 
selves and  our  posterity  throughout   all   genenitions. 

In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set   my  hand 
and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington  this  twentieth  day 
of  October,  in  the  years  of  our  Lord  one  thou- 
[l.  s.]    sand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-four,  and  of  the 
independence   of  the  United  States  the  eighty- 
ninth. 
By  the  President:  Abraham  Lincoln. 

William  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  325 

Letter  From  the  President  to  Hon.  Erastus  Corning 
AND  Others. 

Executive  Mansion,        ) 
Washington,  June  13,  1863.  ) 

Hon.  Erastus  Corning  and  otliers — Gentlemen: — 
Your  letter  of  May  19th,  inclosing  the  resolutions  of  a 
a  public  meeting  held  at  Albany,  New  York,  on  the  16th 
of  the  same  month,  was  received  several  days  ago. 

The  resolutions,  as  I  understand  them,  are  resolvable 
into  two  propositions — first,  the  expression  of  a  purpose 
to  sustain  the  cause  of  the  Union,  to  secure  peace  through 
victory,  and  to  support  the  Administration  in  every 
constitutional  and  lawful  measure  to  suppress  the  re- 
bellion; and,  secondly,  a  declaration  of  censure  upon 
the  Administration  for  supposed  unconstititional  action, 
such  as  the  making  of  military  arrests.  And  from  the 
two  propositions  a  third  is  deduced,  which  is,  that  the 
gentlemen  composing  the  meeting  are  resolved  on  doing 
their  part  to  maintain  our  common  Government  and 
country,  despite  the  folly  or  wickedness,  as  they  may 
conceive,  of  any  Administration.  This  position  is 
eminently  patriotic,  and  as  such  I  thank  the  meeting 
and  congratulate  the  nation  for  it.  My  own  purpose 
is  the  same,  so  that  the  meeting  and  myself  have  a  com- 
mon object,  and  can  have  no  difference,  except  in  the 
choice  of  means  or  measures  for  effecting  that  object. 

And  here  I  ought  to  close  this  paper,  and  would  close 
it,  if  there  were  no  apprehension  that  more  injurious 
consequences  than  any  merely  personal  to  myself  might 
follow  the  censures  systematically  cast  upon  me  for  doing 
what,  in  my  view  of  duty,  I  could  not  forbear.  The 
resolutions  promise  to  support  me  in  every  constitutional 
and  lawful  measure  to  suppress  the  rebellion,  and  I  have 
not   knowingly   employed,    nor   shall   knowingly   employ 


326 


Life  of  Abraham  Linxoln. 


any  other.  But  the  meeting,  by  their  resolutions,  assert 
and  argue  that  certain  mihtary  arrests,  and  proceedings 
following  them,  for  which  I  am  ultimately  responsible, 
are  unconstitutional.  I  think  they  are  not.  The  resolu- 
tions quote  from  the  Constitution  the  definition  of  trea- 
son, and  also  the  limiting  safeguards  and  guarantees 
therein  provided  for  the  citizen  on  trial  for  treason,  and 
on  his  being  held  to  answer  for  capital,  or  otherwise  infa- 
mous crimes,  and  in  criminal  prosecutions,  his  right  to 
a  speedy  and  public  trial  by  an  impartial  jury.  They 
proceed  to  resolve,  "that  these  safeguards  of  the  rights 
of  the  citizen  against  the  pretensions  of  arbitrary  power 
were  intended  more  especially,  for  his  protection  in  times 
of  civil  commotion." 

And,  apparently  to  demonstrate  the  proposition,  the 
resolutions  jDroceed:  "They  were  secured  substantially 
to  the  English  people  ajter  years  of  j^rotracted  civil  war, 
and  were  adopted  into  our  Constitution  at  the  close  of 
the  Revolution."  Would  not  the  demonstration  have 
been  better  if  it  could  have  been  truly  said  that  these 
safeguards  had  been  adopted  and  applied  during  the 
civil  wars  and  during  our  Revolution,  instead  of  after 
the  one  and  at  the  close  of  the  other?  I,  too,  am  devotedly 
for  them  ajter  civil  war,  and  hejore  civil  war,  and  at  all 
times,  "except  when,  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion, 
the  public  safety  may  require"  their  suspension.  The 
resolutions  proceed  to  tell  us  that  these  safeguards  "  have 
stood  the  test  of  seventy-six  years  of  trial,  under  our 
republican  system,  under  circumstances  which  show  that, 
while  they  constitute  the  foundation  of  all  free  govern- 
ment, they  are  the  elements  of  the  enduring  stability 
of  the  Republic."  No  one  denies  that  they  have  so  stood 
the  test  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  rebellion,  if 
we  except  a  certain  occurrence  at  New  Orleans ;  nor  does 


Life  of  Abraham  Lixcoln.  327 

any  one  question  that  they  will  stand  the  same  test  much 
longer  after  the  rebellion  closes.  But  these  provisions 
of  the  Constitutions  have  no  applications  to  the  case 
we  have  in  hand,  because  the  arrests  complained  of  were 
not  made  for  treason — that  is,  not  for  the  treason  defined 
in  the  Constitution,  and  upon  conviction  of  which  the 
punishment  is  death — nor  yet  were  they  made  to  hold 
persons  to  answer  for  any  capital  or  otherwise  infamous 
crimes;  nor  were  the  proceedings  following,  in  any  con- 
stitutional or  legal  sense,  "criminal  prosecutions."  The 
arrests  were  made  on  totally  different  grounds,  and  the 
proceedings  following  accorded  with  the  grounds  of  the 
arrest.  Let  us  consider  the  real  case  with  which  we  are 
dealing,  and  apply  to  it  the  parts  of  the  Constitution 
plainly  made  for  such  cases. 

Prior  to  my  installation  here,  it  had  been  inculcated  that 
any  State  had  a  lawful  right  to  secede  from  the  National 
Union,  and  that  it  would  be  expedient  to  exercise  the  right 
whenever  the  devotees  of  the  doctrine  should  fail  to  elect 
a  President  to  their  own  liking.  I  was  elected  contrary  to 
their  liking,  and  accordingly,  so  far  as  it  was  legally  pos- 
sible they  had  taken  seven  States  out  of  the  Union,  and 
had  seized  many  of  the  United  States  Forts,  and  had  fired 
upon  the  United  States  flag,  all  before  I  was  inaugurated, 
£tnd,  of  course,  before  I  had  done  any  official  act  whatever. 
The  rebellion,  thus  began,  soon  ran  into  the  present  civil 
war;  and,  in  certain  respects,  it  began  on  very  unequal 
terms  between  the  parties.  The  insurgents  had  been  pre- 
paring for  it  more  than  tliirty  years,  while  the  Government 
had  taken  no  steps  to  resist  them.  The  former  had  care- 
fully considered  all  the  means  wliich  could  be  turned  to 
their  account.  It  undoubtedly  was  a  well-pondered  reliance 
with  them  that,  in  their  own  unrestricted  efforts  to  destroy 
Union,  Constitution  and  law  altogether,  the  Government 


328  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

would  in  great  degree,  be  restrained  by  the  same  Constitu- 
tion and  law  from  arresting  their  progress.  Their  sympa- 
thizers pervaded  all  departments  of  the  Government,  and 
nearly  all  communities  of  the  people.  From  this  material, 
under  cover  of  "liberty  of  speech, "  " liberty  of  the  press, " 
and  "  habeas  corpus, "  they  hoped  to  keep  on  foot  among  us 
a  most  efficient  corps  of  spies,  informers,  suppliers,  and 
aiders  and  abettors  of  their  cause  in  a  thousand  ways. 
They  knew  that  in  times  such  as  they  were  inaugurating, 
by  the  Constitution  itself,  the  "habeas  corpus"  might  be 
suspended;  but  they  also  knew  they  had  friends  who  would 
make  a  question  as  to  who  was  to  suspend  it;  meanwhile 
their  spies  and  others  might  remain  at  large  to  help  on 
their  cause.  Or  if,  as  has  happened,  the  Executive  should 
suspend  the  writ,  without  ruinous  waste  of  time,  instances 
of  arresting  innocent  persons  might  occur,  as  are  always 
likely  to  occur  in  such  cases,  and  then  a  clamor  could  be 
raised  in  regard  to  this,  which  might  be,  at  least,  of  some 
service  to  the  insurgent  cause.  It  needed  no  very  keen 
perception  to  discover  this  part  of  the  enemy's  programme 
so  soon  as,  by  open  hostilities,  their  machinery  was  fairly 
put  in  motion.  Yet,  thoroughly  imbued  with  a  reverence 
for  the  guaranteed  rights  of  individuals,  I  was  slow  to 
adopt  the  strong  measures  which  by  degrees  I  have  been 
forced  to  regard  as  being  within  the  exceptions  of  the 
Constitution,  and  as  indispensable  to  the  public  safety. 
Nothing  is  better  known  to  historj'-  than  that  courts  of 
justice  are  utterlj'  incompetent  in  such  cases.  Civil  courts 
are  organized  chiefly  for  trials  of  individuals,  or  at  most, 
a  few  individuals  acting  in  concert,  and  tliis  in  quiet  times, 
and  on  charges  of  crimes  well-defined  in  the  law.  Even 
in  times  of  peace,  bands  of  horse-thieves  and  robbers  fre- 
quently grow  too  numerous  and  powerful  for  the  ordinary 
courts  of  justice.     But  what  comparison,  in  numbers,  have 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  329 

such  bands  ever  borne  to  the  insurgent  sympathizers,  even 
in  many  of  the  loyal  states?  Again,  a  jury  too  frequently 
has  at  least  one  member  more  ready  to  hang  the  panel 
than  to  hang  the  traitor.  And  yet,  again,  he  who  dis- 
suades one  man  from  volimteering  or  induces  one  sol- 
dier to  desert,  weakens  the  Union  cause  as  much  as  he  who 
kills  a  Union  soldier  in  battle.  Yet  this  dissuasion  or 
inducement  may  be  so  conducted  as  to  be  no  defined  crime 
of  which  any  civil  court  would  take  cognizance. 

Ours  is  a  case  of  rebellion — so  called  by  the  resolutions 
before  me— in  fact  a  clear,  flagrant  and  gigantic  case  of 
rebellion;  and  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  that  "the 
privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspended 
unless,  when,  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public 
safety  may  require  it,"  is  the  provision  which  specially 
applies  to  our  present  case.  This  provision  plainly  attests 
the  understanding  of  those  who  made  the  Constitution, 
that  ordinary  courts  of  justice  are  inadequate  to  "  cases  of 
rebellion  " — attests  their  purpose  that,  in  such  cases,  men 
may  be  held  in  custody  whom  the  courts,  acting  on  ordi- 
nary rules,  would  discharge.  Habeas  corpus  does  not  dis- 
charge men  who  are  proved  to  be  guilty  of  defined  crime; 
and  its  suspension  is  allowed  by  the  Constitution  on  pur- 
pose that  men  may  be  arrested  and  held  who  can  not  be 
proved  to  be  guilty  of  defined  crime,  "when,  in  cases  of 
rebellion  or  invasion,  the  pubhc  safety  may  require  it." 
This  is  precisely  our  present  case — a  case  of  rebellion, 
wherein  the  public  safety  does  require  the  suspension.  In- 
deed, arrests  by  process  of  courts,  and  arrests  in  cases 
of  rebellion  do  not  proceed  altogether  upon  the  same 
basis.  The  former  is  directed  at  the  small  percentage 
of  ordinary  and  continuous  perpetration  of  crime;  while 
the  latter  is  directed  at  sudden  and  extensive  uprisings 
against  the  Government,  wliich  at  most  will  succeed  or 


330 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


fail  in  no  great  length  of  time.  In  the  latter  case  arrests 
are  made,  not  so  much  for  what  has  been  done  as  for  what 
probably  would  be  done.  The  latter  is  more  for  the  pre- 
ventive and  less  for  the  vindictive  than  the  former.  Li 
such  cases  the  purposes  of  men  are  much  more  easily 
understood  than  in  cases  of  ordinary  crime.  The  man  who 
stands  by  and  says  notliing  when  the  peril  of  Ms  Govern- 
ment is  discussed,  can  not  be  misunderstood.  If  not  hin- 
dered, he  is  sure  to  help  the  enemy;  much  more,  if  he  talks 
ambiguously — talks  for  his  country  with  "  buts,"  and  "  ifs," 
and  "ands. "  Of  how  little  value  the  constitutional  pro- 
visions I  have  quoted  will  be  rendered,  if  arrests  shall  never 
be  made  until  defined  crimes  shall  have  been  committed, 
may  be  illustrated  by  a  few  notable  examples.  General 
John  C.  Breckinridge,  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  General 
Joseph  E.  Johnston,  General  John  B.  Magruder,  General 
William  B.  Preston,  General  Simon  B.  Buckner,  and  Com- 
modore Frankhn  Buchanan,  now  occupying  the  very 
highest  places  in  the  rebel  war  ser^•ice,  were  all  witliin  the 
power  of  the  Government  since  the  rebellion  began,  and 
were  nearly  as  well  known  to  the  traitors  then  as  now. 
Unquestionably,  if  we  had  seized  and  held  them,  the  in- 
surgent cause  would  have  been  much  weaker.  But  no 
one  of  them  had  then  committed  any  crime  defined  by  law. 
Every  one  of  them,  if  arrested,  would  have  been  discharged 
on  habeas  corpus,  were  the  wxit  allowed  to  operate.  In 
view  of  these,  and  similar  cases,  I  tliink  the  time  not  un- 
likely to  come  when  I  shall  be  blamed  for  having  made 
too  few  arrests  rather  than  too  many. 

By  the  tliird  resolution  the  meeting  indicate  their  opinion 
that  military  arrests  may  be  constitutional  in  localities 
where  rebellion  actually  exists,  but  that  such  arrests  are 
unconstitutional  in  localities  where  rebellion  or  insurrec- 
tion does  not  actually  exist.     They  insist  that  such  arrests 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  331 

shall  not  be  made  "  outside  of  the  hues  of  necessary  military 
occupation  and  the  scenes  of  insurrection. "  Inasmuch,  how- 
ever, as  the  Constitution  itself  makes  no  such  distinction, 
I  am  unable  to  believe  that  there  is  any  such  constitutional 
distinction ;  I  concede  that  the  class  of  arrests  complained 
of  can  be  constitutional  only  -when,  in  cases  of  rel^ellion 
or  invasion,  the  public  safety  may  require  them;  and  I 
insist  that  in  such  cases  they  are  constitutional  wherever 
the  public  safety  does  require  them;  as  well  in  places  to 
which  they  may  prevent  the  rebellion  extending,  as  in 
those  where  it  may  be  already  prevailing,  as  well  where 
they  may  restrain  mischievous  interference  with  the  raising 
and  supplying  of  armies  to  suppress  the  rebellion,  as  where 
the  rebellion  may  actually  be;  as  well  where  they  may 
restrain  the  enticing  men  out  of  the  army,  as  where  they 
would  prevent  mutiny  in  the  army ;  equally  constitutional 
at  all  places  where  they  will  conduce  to  the  public  safety, 
as  against  the  dangers  of  rebellion  or  invasion.  Take  the 
particular  case  mentioned  by  the  meeting.  It  is  asserted, 
in  substance,  that  Mr.  Vallandigham  was,  by  a  military 
commander,  seized  and  tried  "for  no  other  reason  than 
words  addressed  to  a  public  meeting,  in  criticism  of  the 
course  of  the  Administration,  and  in  condemnation  of  the 
military  orders  of  the  general."  Now,  if  there  be  no 
mistake  about  this — if  this  assertion  is  the  truth  and  the 
whole  truth — if  there  was  no  other  reason  for  the  arrest, 
then  I  concede  that  the  arrest  was  wrong.  But  the  arrest, 
as  I  understand,  was  made  for  a  very  different  reason. 
Mr.  Vallandigham  avows  his  hostility  to  the  war  on  the 
part  of  the  Union,  and  his  arrest  was  made  because  he 
was  laboring,  with  some  effect,  to  prevent  the  raising  of 
troops;  to  encourage  desertion  from  the  army,  and  to 
leave  the  rebellion  without  an  adequate  military  force  to 
suppress  it.     He  was  not  arrested  because  lie  was  damaging 


332  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

the  political  prospects  of  the  Administration,  or  the  per- 
sonal interests  of  the  commanding  general,  but  because  he 
was  damaging  the  army,  upon  the  existence  and  vigor  of 
which  the  life  of  the  nation  depends.  He  was  warring 
upon  the  military,  and  this  gave  the  military  constitu- 
tional jurisdiction  to  lay  hands  upon  him.  If  Mr.  Val- 
landigham  was  not  damaging  the  military  power  of  the 
country,  then  his  arrest  was  made  on  mistake  of  fact, 
which  I  would  be  glad  to  correct  on  reasonably  satisfactory 
evidence. 

I  understand  the  meeting,  whose  resolutions  I  am  con- 
sidering, to  be  in  favor  of  suppressing  the  rebellion  by 
military  force — by  armies.  Long  experience  has  shown 
that  armies  cannot  be  maintamed  unless  desertions  shall 
be  punished  by  the  severe  penalty  of  death.  The  case 
requires,  and  the  law  and  the  Constitution  sanction,  this 
punishment.  Must  I  shoot  a  simple-minded  soldier  boy 
who  deserts,  while  I  must  not  touch  a  hair  of  a  wily 
agitator  who  induces  him  to  desert?  This  is  none  the  less 
injurious  when  effected  by  getting  a  father,  or  brother 
or  friend,  into  a  public  meeting,  and  there  working  upon 
his  feelings  till  he  is  persuaded  to  write  the  soldier  boy  that 
he  is  fighting  in  a  bad  cause,  for  a  wicked  Administration 
of  a  contemptible  Government,  too  weak  to  arrest  and 
punish  him  if  he  shall  desert.  I  think  that  in  such  a  case 
to  silence  the  agitator  and  save  the  boy  is  not  only  con- 
stitutional, but  withal  a  great  mercy. 

If  I  be  wrong  on  this  question  of  constitutional  power, 
my  error  lies  in  believing  that  certain  proceedings  are 
constitutional,  when,  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the 
public  safety  requires  them,  which  would  not  be  constitu- 
tional when,  in  the  absence  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the 
public  safety  does  not  require  them;  in  other  words,  that 
the  Constitution  is  not,  in  its  application,  in  all  respects 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  333 

the  same — in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion  involving  the 
public  safety,  as  it  is  in  time  of  profound  peace  and  public 
security.  The  Constitution  itself  makes  the  distinction; 
and  I  can  no  more  be  persuaded  that  the  Government  can 
constitutionally  take  no  strong  measures  in  time  of  re- 
bellion, because  it  can  be  shown  that  the  same  could  not 
be  lawfully  taken  in  time  of  peace,  than  I  can  be  per- 
suaded that  a  particular  drug  is  not  good  medicine  for 
a  sick  man,  because  it  can  be  shown  not  to  be  good  food 
for  a  well  one.  Nor  am  I  able  to  appreciate  the  danger 
apprehended  by  the  meeting,  that  the  American  people 
will,  by  means  of  military  arrests  during  the  rebellion, 
lose  the  right  of  public  discussion,  the  liberty  of  speech 
and  the  press,  the  law  of  evidence,  trial  by  jury,  and  habeas 
corpus,  throughout  the  indefinite  peaceful  future,  which  I 
trust  lies  before  them,  any  more  than  I  am  able  to  believe 
that  a  man  could  contract  so  strong  an  appetite  for  emetics, 
during  temporary  illness,  as  to  persist  in  feeding 
upon  them  during  the  remainder  of  Ms  healthful  life. 

In  giving  the  resolutions  that  earnest  consideration, 
which  you  request  of  me,  I  can  not  overlook  the  fact 
that  the  meeting  speak  as  "  Democrats."  Nor  can  I, 
with  full  respect  for  their  known  intelligence,  and  the 
fairly  presumed  deliberation  \vith  wWch  they  prepared 
their  resolutions.jlie  permitted  to  suppose  that  this  occurred 
by  accident,  or  in  any  way  other  than  that  they  pre- 
ferred to  designate  themselves  "Democrats"  rather 
than  "American  Citizens."  In  this  time  of  National 
peril,  I  would  have  preferred  to  meet  you  on  a  level  one 
step  higher  than  any  party  platform;  because  I  am  sure 
that,  from  such  more  elevated  position,  we  could  do 
better  battle  for  the  country  we  all  love,  than  we  possibly 
can  from  those  lower  ones  where,  from  the  force  of  habit, 
the  prejudices  of  the  past,  and  selfish  hopes  of  the  future. 


334  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

we  are  sure  to  expend  much  of  our  ingenuity  and  strength 
in  finding  fault  with  and  aiming  blows  at  each  other. 
But,  since  you  have  denied  me  this,  I  will  yet  be  thankful, 
for  the  country's  sake,  that  not  all  Democrats  have  done 
so.  He  on  whose  discretionary  judgment  Mr.  Vallpndig- 
ham  was  arrested  and  tried  is  a  Democrat,  having  no 
old  party  affinity  with  me;  and  the  judge  who  rejected 
the  constitutional  view  expressed  in  these  resolutions, 
by  refusing  to  tlischarge  Mr.  "x'allandigham  on  habeas 
corpus,  is  a  Democrat  of  better  days  than  these,  having 
received  his  judicial  mantle  at  the  hands  of  President 
Jackson.  And  still  more,  of  all  those  Democrats  who 
are  nobly  exposing  their  lives  and  shedding  their  blood 
on  the  battle-field,  I  have  learned  that  many  approve 
the  course  taken  with  Mr.  ^'allandigham,  while  I  have 
not  heard  of  a  single  one  condemning  it.  I  can  not  assert 
that  there  are  none  such. 

And  the  name  of  Jackson  recalls  an  incident  of  jier- 
tinent  history:  After  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  and 
wlule  the  fact  that  the  treaty  of  i)eace  had  been  concluded 
was  well  known  in  the  city,  but  before  official  knowledge 
of  it  had  arrived.  Gen.  Jackson  still  maintained  martial 
or  military  law.  Now  that  it  could  be  said  the  war  was 
over,  the  clamor  against  martial  law,  which  had  existed 
from  the  first,  grew  more  furious.  Among  other  things, 
a  Mr.  Louiallier  published  a  denunciatory]  newspaper 
article.  Gen.  Jackson  arrested  him.  A  lawyer  by  the 
name  of  Morrel  procured  the  United  States  Judge  Hall 
to  issue  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  relieve  Mr.  Louiallier. 
Gen.  Jackson  arrested  both  the  lawyer  and  the  Judge. 
A  Mr.  Hollander  ventured  to  say  of  some  part  of  the 
matter  that  "it  was  a  dirty  trick."  Gen  Jackson  arrested 
him.  When  the  officer  undertook  to  serve  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus,  Gen  Jackson  took  it  from  him,  and  sent 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  335 

him  awaj-  with  a  copy.  Holding  the  judge  in  custody 
a  few  days,  the  General  sent  him  beyond  the  limits  of 
his  encampment,  and  set  him  at  liberty,  with  an  order  to 
remain  till  the  ratification  of  peace  should  be  regularly 
announced,  or  until  the  British  should  have  left  the 
Southern  coast.  A  day  or  two  more  elapsed,  the  ratifica- 
tion of  a  treaty  of  peace  was  regularly  announced,  and 
the  judge  and  others  were  fully  liberated.  A  few  days 
more  and  the  judge  called  Gen.  Jackson  into  court  and 
fined  him  $1,000  for  having  arrested  him  and  the  others 
named.  The  General  paid  the  fine,  and  there  the  matter 
rested  for  nearly  thirty  years,  when  Congress  refunded 
principal  and  interest.  The  late  Senator  Douglas,  then 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  took  a  leading  part 
in  the  debates,  in  which  the  Constitutional  question 
was  much  discussed.  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  whom 
the  journals  would  show  to  have  voted  for  the  measure. 
It  may  be  remarked:  First,  that  we  had  the  same 
Constitution  then  as  now;  secondly,  that  we  then  had  a 
case  of  invasion,  and  now  we  have  a  case  of  rebellion; 
and  thirdly,  that  the  permanent  right  of  the  people  to 
public  discussion,  the  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press, 
the  trial  by  jury,  the  law  of  evidence,  and  the  habeas 
corpus,  suffered  no  detriment  whatever  by  that  conduct 
of  General  Jackson,  or  its  subsequent  approval  by  the 
American   Congress. 

And  yet,  let  me  say  that  in  my  own  discretion,  I  do 
not  know  whether  I  would  have  ordered  the  arrest  of 
Mr.  \'allandigham.  While  I  can  not  shift  the  responsi- 
bility from  myself,  I  hold  that,  as  a  general  rule,  the 
commander  in  the  field  is  the  better  judge  of  the  necessity 
in  any  particular  case.  Of  course,  I  must  practise  a 
general  directory  and  revisory  power  in  the  matter. 

One  of  the  resolutions  expresses  the  opinion  of  the 


336  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

meeting  that  arbitrary  arrests  will  have  the  effect  to 
divide  and  distract  those  who  should  be  united  in  sup- 
pressing the  rebellion,  and  I  am  specifically  called  on  to 
discharge  Mr.  Vallandigham.  I  regard  this  as,  at  least, 
a  fair  appeal  to  me  on  the  expediency  of  exercising  a 
constitutional  power  which  I  think  exists.  In  reponse 
to  such  appeal,  I  have  to  say,  it  gave  me  pain  when  I 
learned  that  Mr.  ^'allandigham  had  been  arrested — 
that  is,  I  was  pained  that  there  should  have  seemed  to  be  a 
necessity  for  arresting  him — and  that  it  will  afford  me 
great  pleasure  to  discharge  him  as  soon  as  I  can,  by  any 
means,  believe  the  public  safety  will  not  suffer  by  it.  I 
further  say  that,  as  the  war  progresses,  it  appears  to  me, 
opinion  and  action,  which  were  in  great  confusion  at  first, 
take  shape  and  fall  into  more  regular  channels,  so  that 
the  necessity  for  strong  dealing  with  them  gradually 
decreases.  I  have  every  reason  to  desire  that  it  should 
cease  altogether;  and  far  from  the  least  is  my  regard 
for  the  opinions  and  wishes  of  those  who,  like  the  meeting 
at  Albany,  declare  their  purpose  to  sustain  the  Govern- 
ment in  every  constitutional  and  lawful  measure  to  sup- 
press the  rebellion.  Still,  I  nmst  continue  to  do  so  much 
as  may  seem  to  be  required  by  public  safety. 

A.  Lincoln. 

On  the  8th  day  of  November,  the  people  expressed 
their  sovereign  will  in  regard  to  the  Presidency  and  Vice- 
Presidency  for  another  term.  In  the  midst  of  the  struggle 
with  a  powerful  rebellion,  at  the  close  of  a  canvass  in 
which  the  party  administering  the  government  had  been 
assailed  in  the  most  violent  and  threatening  terms,  and 
at  a  time  when  on-looking  nations  might  naturally  expect 
ruinous  convulsions  and  a  lapse  into  anarchy  or  despo- 
tism, the  election  in  every  city,  village,  and  precinct  of 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  337 

the  loyal  States,  proceeded  with  an  order  and  decorum 
scarcely  equalled  in  the  most  peaceful  times.  Even  the 
soldier  who  was  just  going  into  battle  remembered  the 
day,  and  was  careful  to  exercise  the  right  of  a  freeman. 
The  spectacle  was  impressive.  Its  lesson  could  no- 
where be  mistaken. 

In  1860,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  received  the  electoral  votes 
of  seventeen  States,  (that  of  New  Jersey  being  divided), 
in  all  180  votes,  and  an  aggregate  popular  vote  of  1,866,452. 
In  1864,  the  number  of  states  that  voted  for  him,  was 
twenty-two,  having  a  total  electoral  vote  of  213,  while 
he  received  an  aggregate  popular  vote  of  2,203,831.  The 
whole  number  of  votes  cast  for  Mr.  Lincoln  in  1860,  in  the 
slave-holding  States  was  26,430.  In  1864,  he  received 
in  those  states  (incuding  Maryland,  West  Virginia  and 
Missouri,  which  became  non-slaveholding  during  his 
administration)  an  aggregate  vote  of  169,728.  These 
several  statements  do  not  include  Tennessee,  Louisiana 
or  Arkansas,  the  votes  of  which  were  excluded  in  the 
official  canvass  by  Congress. 

Only  three  States  voted  for  Gen.  McClellan,  namely: 
New  Jersey,  Delaware  and  Kentucky,  giving  an  aggregate 
electoral  vote  of  21.  Mr.  Lincoln  thus  received  more 
than  ten  to  one  in  the  electoral  college.  The  total  popular 
vote  for  McClellan  was  1,797,019.  The  majority  for 
Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  popular  vote  was  406,812. 

On  the  evening  of  November  10th,  a  procession,  with 
music,  banners  and  tranparencies,  marched  to  the  White 
House  to  pay  their  compliments  to  President  Lincoln. 
A  national  salute  was  fired,  and  cheers,  prolonged  and 
and  earnest,  greeted  the  appearance  of  the  President 
at  the  window  from  which  he  was  accustomed  to  speak 
when  thus  called  out  by  his  friends.  On  this  joyous 
occasion,  free  from  any  manifestations  of  merely  personal 


338  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

or  even  partisan  triumph,  he  made  the  following  memor- 
able siseech: 

Friexds  and  Fellow  Citizens:  It  has  long  been 
a  grave  question  whether  any  government  not  too  strong 
for  the  liberties  of  its  people  can  be  strong  enough  to  main- 
tain its  own  existence  in  great  emergencies.  On  this  point 
the  present  Rebellion  brought  our  Republic  to  a  severe 
test;  and  a  Presidential  election,  occurring  in  regular  course 
during  the  Rebellion,  added  not  a  little  to  the  strain. 

If  the  loyal  people  united  were  put  to  the  utmost  of 
their  strength  by  the  rebellion,  must  they  not  fall  when 
divided  and  partially  paralyzed  by  a  political  war  among 
themselves? 

But  the  election  was  a  necessity.  We  can  not  have 
free  government  without  elections;  and  if  the  rebellion 
could  force  us  to  forego  or  postpone  a  national  election, 
it  might  fairly  claim  to  have  already  conquered  and 
ruined  us.  The  strife  of  the  election  is  but  human  nature 
practically  applied  to  the  facts  of  the  case.  What  has 
occurred  in  this  case,  must  ever  recur  in  similar  cases. 
Human  nature  will  not  change.  In  any  future 
great  national  trial,  compared  with  the  men  of  this,  we 
shall  have  as  weak  and  as  strong,  as  silly  and  as  wise, 
as  bad  and  as  good. 

Let  us,  therefore,  study  the  incidents  of  this,  as  philos- 
ophy to  learn  wisdom  from,  and  none  of  them  as  wrongs 
to  be  revenged. 

But  the  election,  along  with  its  incidental  and  undesir- 
able strife,  has  done  good,  too.  It  has  demonstrated  that 
a  people's  government  can  sustain  a  national  election  in 
the  midst  of  a  great  ci\'il  war.  [Enthusiastic  cheers.] 
Until  now,  it  has  not  been  Icnown  to  the  world  that  this 
was  a  possibility.  It  shows,  also,  how  sound  and  how 
strong  we  still  are.     It  shows  that,  even  among  candidates 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  339 

of  the  same  party,  he,  who  is  most  devoted  to  the  Union, 
and  most  opposed  to  treason,  can  receive  most  of  the 
people's  votes.  [Long-continued  applause.]  It  shows, 
also,  to  the  extent  yet  Imown,  that  we  have  more  men 
now  than  we  had  when  the  war  began.  Gold  is  good 
in  its  place,  but  hving,  brave,  patriotic  men,  are  better 
than  gold.     [Applause.] 

But  the  rebellion  continues;  and  now  that  the  election 
is  over,  may  not  all,  having  a  common  interest,  re-unite 
in  a  common  effort  to  save  our  common  country?  [Cries 
of  "Yes,"  "Good."]  For  my  own  part,  I  have  striven, 
and  will  strive,  to  avoid  placing  any  obstacle  in  the  way. 
So  long  as  I  have  been  here,  I  have  not  willingly  planted 
a  thorn  in  any  man's  bosom. 

Wliile  I  am  deeply  sensible  to  the  high  compliment  of  a 
re-election,  and  duly  grateful,  as  I  trust,  to  Almighty  God, 
for  having  directed  my  countrymen  to  a  right  conclu- 
sion, as  I  think,  for  their  own  good,  it  adds  notliing  to 
my  satisfaction  that  any  other  man  may  be  disappointed 
or  pained  by  the  result.     [Applause.] 

May  I  ask  those  who  have  not  differed  with  me  to  join 
with  me  in  the  same  spirit  toward  those  who  have? 

And  now,  let  me  close  by  asking  three  hearty  cheers 
for  our  brave  soldiers  and  seamen,  and  their  gallant  and 
skillful  commanders. 

The  cheers  were  given  with  hearty  good-will  in  response 
to  the  President's  call.  A  venerable  Democrat  in  the 
crowd  remarked,  with  feeling:  "God  is  good  to  us.  He 
has  again  given  us  a  ruler,  that  sublime  specimen  of  His 
noblest  work,  an  honest  man." 

The  result  of  the  election  becoming  known  to  the  army, 
Lieut.-Gen.  Grant  sent  the  following  congratulatory 
dispatch  to  the  Secretary  of  War: 


340  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

City  Point,  Nov.  10,  1864—10.30  P.  M. 
Hon.  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War: 

Enough  now  seems  to  be  known  to  say  who  is  to  hold 
the  reins  of  Government  for  the  next  four  years. 

Congratulate  the  President  for  me  for  this  double 
victory. 

The  election  having  passed  off  quietly,  no  bloodshed 
or  riot  throughout  the  land,  is  a  \actory  worth  more  to 
the  country  than  a  battle  won. 

Rebeldom  and  Europe  will  construe  it  so. 

U.  S.  Grant,  Lieutenant  General. 

The  election  had,  in  fact,  demonstrated  to  the  Rebels, 
and  to  the  world,  that  the  people  were  determined  to 
sustain  our  armies,  and  to  keep  their  ranks  filled  with 
new  levies,  so  long  as  needed,  until  the  last  vestige  of 
armed  opposition  to  the  Government  should  disappear. 
To  the  soldier,  and  to  the  citizen  ready  to  become  a  soldier 
— should  he  be  wanted — the  result  was  alike  gratifying. 
The  assertion  of  the  Chicago  platform,  that  the  war  was 
a  failure,  was  branded  as  false.  The  impudent  demand 
for  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  in  the  midst  of  the  full  tide 
of  success,  was  emphatically  rebuked.  The  recreant  in- 
trigues with  a  cabal  of  traitors  in  Canada,  were  condemned 
to  the  infamy  they  deserved.  The  malignant  calum- 
nies against  the  noblest  and  truest  of  rulers  were  sum- 
marily repudiated.  Every  man  who  had  anything  at 
stake,  of  whatever  party,  breathed  freer  for  the  demon- 
strated stability  of  our  Government.  Better  days  already 
dawned  on  the  Repubhc. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

President  Lincoln's  Last  Annual  Message,  and 
Second  Inaugural. 

The  second  session  of  the  Tliirty-eight  Congress  com- 
menced on  the  5th  of  December,  1864.  On  the  next  day, 
President  Lincoln  transmitted  to  the  two  houses  his 
annual  message — exhibiting  with  brevity  and  force  the 
general  progress  of  events,  and  the  present  condition  of 
national  affairs — as  follows: 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives: — Again  the  blessings  of  health  and 
abundant  harvest  claim  our  profoundest  gratitude  to 
Almighty  God. 

The  condition  of  our  foreign  affairs  is  reasonably  satis- 
factory. 

Mexico  continues  to  be  a  theater  of  civil  war.  While 
our  political  relations  with  that  country  have  undergone 
no  change,  we  have,  at  the  same  time,  strictly  main- 
tained neutrality  between  the  belligerents. 

At  the  request  of  the  States  of  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua, 
a  competent  engineer  has  been  authorized  to  make  a 
survey  of  the  river  San  Juan  and  the  port  of  San  Juan. 
It  is  a  source  of  much  satisfaction  that  the  difficulties 
which  for  a  moment  excited  some  political  apprehen- 
sions, and  caused  a  closing  of  the  inter-oceanic  transit 
route,  have  been  amicably  adjusted,  and  that  there  is  a 
good  prospect  that  the  route  will  soon  be  re-opened  with 
an  increase  of  capacity  and  adaptation.   We  could  not  ex- 

341 


342  Life  OF  Abraham  Lincoln. 

aggerate  either  the  commercial  or  the  poUtical  importance 
of  that  great  improvement. 

It  would  be  doing  injustice  to  an  important  South 
American  State  not  to  acknowledge  the  directness,  frank- 
ness, and  cordiality  with  which  the  United  States  of 
Colombia  have  entered  into  intimate  relations  with  this  Gov- 
ernment. A  claims  convention  has  been  constituted  to 
complete  the  unfinished  work  of  the  one  which  closed 
its  session  in   186L 

The  new  liberal  constitution  of  Venezuela  having  gone 
into  effect  with  the  universal  acquiescence  of  the  people, 
the  Government  under  it  has  been  recognized,  and  diplo- 
matic intercourse  with  it  has  opened  in  a  cordial  and 
and  friendly  spirit.  The  long-deferred  Aves  Island  claim 
has  been  satisfactorily  paid  and  discharged. 

Mutual  payments  have  been  made  of  the  claims  awarded 
by  the  late  joint  commission  for  the  settlement  of  claims 
between  the  United  States  and  Peru.  An  earnest  and 
cordial  friendship  continues  to  exist  between  the  t\A-o 
countries,  and  such  efforts  as  were  in  my  power  have 
been  used  to  remove  misunderstanding  and  avert  a  threat- 
ened war  between  Peru  and  Spain. 

Our  relations  are  of  the  most  friendly  nature  with  Chili, 
the  Argentine  Republic,  Bolivia,  Costa  Rica,  Paraguay, 
San  Salvador,  and  Hayti. 

During  the  past  year  no  differences  of  any  kind  have 
arisen  with  any  of  those  republics,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  their  sympathies  with  the  United  States  are  con- 
stantly expressed  with  cordiality  and  earnestness. 

The  claim,  arising  from  the  seizure  of  the  cargo  of  the 
brig  Macedonian  in  1821  has  been  paid  in  full  by  the 
Government  of  Chili. 

Civil  war  continues  in  the  Spanish  part  of  San  Domingo, 
apparently  without  prospect  of  an  early  close. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  343 

Official  correspondence  has  been  freely  opened  with 
Liberia,  and  it  gives  us  a  pleasing  view  of  social  and 
political  progress  in  that  republic.  It  may  be  expected 
to  derive  new  vigor  from  American  influence,  improved 
by  the  rapid  disappearance  of  slavery  in  the  United 
States. 

I  solicit  your  authority  to  furnish  to  the  republic  a 
gunboat  at  moderate  cost,  to  be  reimbursed  to  the 
United  States  by  installments.  Such  a  vessel  is  needed 
for  the  safety  of  that  State  against  the  native  African 
races;  and  in  Liberian-hands  it  would  be  more  effective 
in  arresting  the  African  slave  trade  than  a  squadron  in 
our  own  hands.  The  possession  of  the  least  organized 
naval  force  would  stimulate  a  generous  ambition  in  the 
republic,  and  the  confidence  which  we  should  manifest 
by  furnishing  it  would  win  forbearance  and  favor  toward 
the  colony  from  all  civihzed  nations. 

The  proposed  overland  telegraph  between  America 
and  Europe,  by  way  of  the  Behring's  Straits  and  Asiatic 
Russia,  which  was  sanctioned  by  Congress  at  the  last 
session,  has  been  undertaken,  under  very  favorable  cir- 
cumstances, by  an  association  of  American  citizens,  with 
the  cordial  good  will  and  support  as  well  of  this  Govern- 
ment as  of  those  of  Great  Britain  and  Russia.  Assur- 
ances have  been  received  from  most  of  the  South  American 
States  of  their  high  appreciation  of  the  enterprise,  and 
their  readiness  to  co-operate  in  constructing  lines  tribu- 
tary to  that  world-encircling  communication.  I  learn, 
with  much  satisfaction,  that  the  noble  design  of  a  tele- 
graphic communication  between  the  eastern  coast  of 
America  and  Great  Britain  has  been  renewed  with  full 
expectation  of  its  early  accomplishment. 

Thus  it  is  hoped  that  with  the  return  of  don^estic  peace 
the  country  will  be  able  to  resume  with  energy  and  advan- 


344 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


tage  its  former  high  career  of  commerce  and  civiHzation. 

Our  verj'  popular  and  estimable  representative  in 
Egypt  died  in  April  last.  An  impleasant  alteration  which 
arose  between  the  temporary  incumbent  of  the  office 
and  the  Government  of  the  Pasha  resulted  in  a  suspension 
of  intercourse.  The  evil  was  promptly  corrected  on  the 
arrival  of  the  successor  to  the  consulate,  and  our  relations 
with  Egypt,  as  well  as  our  relations  with  the  Barbary 
Powers,   are  entirely  satisfactory. 

The  rebellion,  which  has  so  long  been  flagrant  in  China, 
has  at  last  been  suppressed,  with  the  co-operating  good 
offices  of  this  Government,  and  of  the  other  western 
commercial  States.  The  judicial  consular  establishment 
there  has  become  very  difficult  and  onerous,  and  it  will 
need  legislative  revision  to  adapt  it  to  the  extension  of  our 
commerce,  and  to  the  more  intimate  intercourse  which  has 
been  instituted  with  the  Government  and  people  of  that 
vast  empire.  China  seems  to  be  accepting  with  hearty 
good-will  the  conventional  laws  which  regulate  commercial 
and  social  intercourse  among  the  western  nations. 

Owing  to  the  peculiar  situation  of  Japan,  and  the  anom- 
alous form  of  its  government,  the  action  of  that  empire 
in  performing  treaty  stipulations  is  inconstant  and  capri- 
cious. Nevertheless,  good  progress  has  been  effected  by 
the  ^^■estern  Powers,  moving  with  enlightened  concert. 
Our  o\\ii  pecuniary  claims  have  been  allowed,  or  put  in 
course  of  settlement,  and  the  inland  sea  has  been  re-opened 
to  commerce.  There  is  reason,  also,  to  believe  that  these 
proceedings  have  increased  rather  than  diminished  the 
friendshij)  of  Japan  toward  the  United  States. 

The  ports  of  Norfolk,  Fernandina  and  Peasacola  have 
been  opened  by  proclamation.  It  is  hoped  that  foreign 
merchants  will  now  consider  whether  it  is  not  safer,  and 
more  profitable  to  themselves,  as  well  as  just  to  the  United 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  345 

States,  to  resort  to  these  and  other  open  ports,  than  it  is  to 
pursue,  through  many  hazards,  and  at  vast  cost,  a  contra- 
band trade  with  the  other  ports  which  are  closed,  if  not  by 
actual  military  occupation,  at  least  by  a  lawful  and  effective 
blockade. 

For  myself,  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  power  and  duty  of  the 
Executive,  under  the  law  of  nations,  to  exclude  enemies  of 
the  human  race  from  an  asj-lum  in  the  United  States.  If 
Congress  should  think  that  proceedings  in  such  cases  lack 
the  authorit)^  of  law,  or  ought  to  be  further  regulated  by 
it,  I  recommend  that  provision  be  made  for  effectually 
preventing  foreign  slave  traders  from  acquiring  domi- 
cile and  facilities  for  their  criminal  occupation  in  our 
country. 

It  is  possible  that,  if  it  were  a  new  and  open  question,  the 
maritime  Powers,  with  the  lights  they  now  enjoy,  would 
not  concede  the  privileges  of  a  naval  belligerent  to  the  in- 
surgents of  the  LTnited  States,  destitute,  as  they  are,  and 
always  have  been,  equally  of  ships-of-war  and  of  port  and 
harbors.  Disloyal  emissaries  have  been  neither  less  as- 
sidious  nor  more  successful  during  the  last  ypar  than  they 
were  before  that  time  in  their  efforts,  under  favor  of  that 
privilege,  to  embroil  our  comitry  in  foreign  wars.  The 
desire  and  determination  of  the  governments  of  the  mari- 
time States  to  defeat  that  design  are  believed  to  be  as  sin- 
cere as,  and  can  not  be  more  earnest  than  our  own.  Never- 
theless, unforseen  pohtical  difficulties  have  arisen,  especial- 
ly in  Brazilian  and  British  ports,  and  on  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  United  States,  which  have  required,  and 
are  likely  to  continue  to  require,  the  practice  of  constant 
vigilance,  and  a  just  and  conciliatory  spirit  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States,  as  well  as  of  the  nations  concerned  and 
their  governments. 

Commissioner  have  been  appointed  under  the  treaty 


346  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

with  Great  Britain  on  the  adjustment  of  the  claims  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  and  Puget  Sound  Agricultural  Companies, 
in  Oregon,  and  are  now  proceeding  to  the  execution  of  the 
trust  assigned  to  them. 

In  view  of  the  insecurity  of  life  and  property  in  the  region 
adjacent  to  the  Canadian  border,  by  reason  of  recent 
assaults  and  depredations,  committed  by  inimical  and 
desperate  persons  who  are  harbored  there,  it  has  been 
thought  proper  to  give  notice  that  after  the  expiration  of 
six  months,  the  period  conditionally  stipulated  in  the  exist- 
ing arrangements  with  Great  Britain,  the  L^nited  States 
must  hold  themselves  at  liberty  to  increase  their  naval 
armament  upon  the  lakes,  if  they  shall  find  that  proceeding 
necessary.  The  condition  of  the  border  will  necessarily 
come  into  consideration  in  connection  with  the  question 
of  continuing  or  modifying  the  rights  of  transit  from 
Canada,  through  the  United  States,  as  well  as  the  regula- 
tion of  imposts,  which  were  temporarily  established  by  the 
reciprocity  treaty  of  the  5th  of  June,  1854. 

I  desire,  however,  to  be  understood,  while  making  this 
statement,  that  the  colonial  authorities  of  Canada  are  not 
deemed  to  be  intentionally  unjust  or  unfriendly  toward 
the  United  States;  but,  on  the  contrary,  there  is  every 
reason  to  expect  that,  with  the  approval  of  the  imperial 
Government,  they  will  take  the  necessary  measures  to 
prevent  new  incursions  across  the  border. 

The  act  passed  at  the  last  session  for  the  encouragement 
of  emigration  has,  so  far  as  was  possible,  been  put  into 
operation.  It  seems  to  need  amendment  which  will  enable 
the  officers  of  the  Government  to  prevent  the  practice  of 
frauds  against  the  immigrants  wMle  on  their  way,  and  on 
their  arrival  in  the  ports,  so  as  to  secure  them  here  a  free 
choice  of  avocations  and  places  of  settlement.  A  liberal 
disposition  toward  this  great  national  policy  is  manifested 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  347 

by  most  of  the  European  States,  and  ought  to  be  recipro- 
cated on  our  part  by  giving  the  immigrants  effective  na- 
tional protection.  I  regard  our  emigrants  as  one  of  the 
principle  replenishing  streams  which  are  appointed  by 
Providence  to  repair  the  ravages  of  internal  war,  and  its 
wastes  of  national  strength  and  health.  All  that  is  neces- 
sary, is  to  secure  the  flow  of  that  stream  in  its  present  full- 
ness, and  to  that  end  the  Government  must,  in  every  way, 
make  it  manifest  that  it  neither  needs  nor  designs  to  impose 
involuntarily  military  service  upon  those  who  conie  from 
other  lands  to  cast  their  lot  in  our  country. 

The  financial  affairs  of  the  Government  have  been  suc- 
cessfully administered  during  the  last  year.  The  legisla- 
tion of  the  last  session  of  Congress  had  beneficially  affected 
the  revenues,  although  sufficient  time  has  not  yet  elapsed 
to  experience  the  full  effect  of  several  of  the  provisions  of 
the  acts  of  Congress  imposing  increased  taxation. 

The  receipts  during  the  year,  from  all  sources,  upon  the 
l)asis  of  warrants  signed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
including  loans  and  the  balance  in  the  Treasury  on  the  1st 
day  of  July,  1863,  were  $1,394,796,007.62;  and  the  aggre- 
gate disbursements,  upon  the  same  basis,  were  $1,298,056,- 
101.89,  leaving  a  balance  in  the  Treasury,  as  shown  by 
warrants,  of  $96,839,905.73. 

Deduct  from  these  amounts  the  amount  of  the  principal 
of  the  public  debt  redeemed,  and  the  amount  of  issues  in 
substitution  therefor,  and  the  actual  cash  operations  of  the 
Treasury  were:  receipts,  $884,076,646.57;  disbursements, 
$865,234,087.86;  which  leaves  a  cash  balance  in  the  Treas- 
ury of  $18,842,558.71. 

Of  the  receipts,  there  were  derived  from  customs  $102,- 
316,152.99;  from  lands,  $588,333.29;  from  direct  taxes, 
$475,648.96;  from  internal  revenue,  $109,741,134.10;  from 
miscellaneous  sources,  $47,511,448.10;  and  from  loans  ap- 


348  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

plied  to  actual  expenditures,  including  former  balance, 
$623,443,929.13. 

There  were  disbursed,  for  the  civil  service,  $27,505,599.- 
46;  for  pension  and  Indians,  $7,517,930.97;  for  the  War 
Department,  $690,791,842.97;  for  the  Navy  Department, 
$85,733,292.77;  for  interest  of  the  pubhc  debt,  $53,685,- 
421.69— making  an  aggregate  of  $865,234,087.86,  and 
leaving  a  balance  in  the  Treasury  of  $18,842,558.71,  as 
before  stated. 

For  the  actual  receipts  and  disbursements  for  the  first 
quarter,  and  the  estimated  receipts  and  disbursements  for 
the  three  remaining  quarters  of  the  current  fiscal  year,  and 
the  general  operations  of  the  Treasurj'  in  detail,  I  refer  you 
to  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  I  concur 
with  him  in  the  opinion  that  the  proportion  of  moneys  re- 
quired to  meet  the  expenses  consequent  upon  the  war 
derived  from  taxation  should  be  still  further  increased; 
and  I  earnestly  invite  your  attention  to  this  subject,  to  the 
end  that  there  may  be  such  additional  legislation  as  shall 
be  required  to  meet  the  just  expectations  of  the  Secretary. 

The  public  debt  on  the  1st  day  of  July  last,  as  appears  by 
the  books  of  the  Treasury,  amounted  to  $1,740,690,489.49. 
Probably,  should  the  war  continue  for  another  year,  that 
amount  may  be  increased  by  not  far  from  $500,000,000. 
Held  as  it  is,  for  the  most  part,  by  our  own  people,  it  has 
become  a  substantial  branch  of  national,  though  private, 
property.  For  obvious  reasons,  the  more  nearly  this  pro- 
perty can  be  distributed  among  all  the  people  the  better. 
To  favor  such  general  distribution,  greater  inducements 
to  become  OMTiers  might,  perhaps,  vnth  good  effect  and 
without  injury,  be  presented  to  persons  of  limited  means. 
With  this  view,  I  suggest  whether  it  might  not  be  both 
competent  and  expedient  for  Congress  to  provide  that  a 
limited  amount  of  some  future  issue  of  public  securities 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  349 

might  be  held  by  any  bona  fide  purchaser  exempt  from  tax- 
ation and  from  seizure  for  debt,  under  such  restrictions 
and  Hmitations  as  might  be  necessary  to  guard  against 
abiise  of  so  important  a  privilege.  This  would  enable 
every  prudent  person  to  set  aside  a  small  annuity  against 
a  possible  day  of  want. 

Privileges  like  these  would  render  the  possession  of  such 
securities,  to  the  amount  limited,  most  desirable  to  every 
person  of  small  means  who  might  be  able  to  save  enough 
for  the  purpose.  The  great  advantage  of  citizens  being 
creditors  as  well  as  debtors,  with  relation  to  the  public  debt, 
is  obvious.  Men  readily  perceive  that  they  can  not  be 
much  oppressed  by  a  debt  which  they  owe  to  themselves. 

The  public  debt  on  the  1st  day  of  July  last,  although 
somewhat  exceeding  the  estimate  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  made  to  Congress  at  the  commencement  of  the 
last  session,  falls  short  of  the  estimate  of  that  officer  made 
in  the  preceding  December,  as  to  its  probable  amomit  at 
the  beginning  of  this  year,  by  the  sum  of  $3,995,097.3L 
This  fact  exhibits  a  satisfactory  condition  and  conduct  of 
the  operations  of  the  Treasury. 

The  national  banking  system  is  proving  to  be  acceptable 
to  capitalists  and  to  the  people.  On  the  25th  day  of  No- 
vember, five  hundred  and  eighty-four  national  banks  had 
been  organized,  a  considerable  number  of  which  were  con- 
versions from  State  banks.  Changes  from  State  systems 
to  the  national  system  are  rapidly  taking  place,  and  it  is 
hoped  that  very  soon  there  will  be  in  the  United  States  no 
banks  of  issue  not  authorized  by  Congress,  and  no  bank- 
note circulation  not  secured  by  the  Government.  That 
the  Government  and  the  people  will  derive  great  benefit 
from  this  change  in  the  banking  systems  of  the  country  can 
hardly  be  questioned.  The  national  system  will  create  a 
reliable  and  permanent  influence  in  support  of  the  national 


350  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

credit,  and  protect  the  people  against  losses  in  the  use  of 
paper  money.  AVhether  or  not  any  further  legislation  is 
advisable  for  the  suppression  of  State  bank  issues,  it  will  be 
for  Congress  to  determine.  It  seems  quite  clear  that  the 
Treasury  can  not  be  satisfactorily  conducted  unless  the 
Government  can  exercise  a  restraining  power  over  the 
bank-note  circulation  of  the  country. 

The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  T\'ar,  and  accompanying 
documents,  will  detail  the  campaigns  of  the  armies  in  the 
field  since  the  date  of  the  last  annual  message,  and  also  the 
operations  of  the  several  administrative  bureaus  of  the 
AVar  Department  during  the  last  year.  It  will  also  specify 
the  measures  deemed  essential  for  the  national  defense, 
and  to  keep  up  and  supply  the  requisite  military  force.     . 

The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  presents  a  com- 
prehensive and  satisfactory  exhibit  of  the  affairs  of  that 
Department  of  the  naval  service.  It  is  a  subject  of  con- 
gratulation and  laudable  pride  to  our  countrymen  that  a 
navy  of  such  vast  proportions  has  been  organized  in  so  brief 
a  period,  and  conducted  with  so  much  efficiency  and  suc- 
cess. 

The  general  exhibit  of  the  Navy,  including  vessels  under 
construction,  on  the  1st  of  December,  1864,  shows  a  total  of 
671  vessels,  carrying  4,610  guns,  and  of  510,396  tons,  being 
an  actual  increase  diu-ing  the  year,  over  and  above  all  losses 
by  shipwreck  or  in  battle,  of  S3  vessels,  167  guns,  and 
42,427  tons. 

The  total  number  of  men  at  this  time  in  the  naval  service, 
including  officers,  is  about  51,000. 

There  ha\'e  been  captured  by  the  Navy  during  the  year, 
324  vessels,  and  the  whole  number  of  naval  captures,  since 
hostilities  commenced,  is  1,379,  of  which  267  are  steamers. 

The  gross  proceeds  arising  from  the  sale  of  condemned 
prize  property,  thus  far  reported,  amount  to  $14,396,250.- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  351 

51.     A  large  amount  of  such  proceeds  is  still  under  ad- 
judication, and  yet  to  be  reported. 

The  total  expenditures  of  the  Navy  Department  of  every 
description,  including  the  cost  of  the  immense  squadrons 
that  have  been  called  into  existence  from  the  4th  of  March, 
1861,  to  the  1st  of  November,  1864,  are  $238,647,262.35. 

Your  favorable  consideration  is  invited  to  the  various 
recommendations  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  especially 
in  regard  to  a  navy-yard  and  a  suitable  establishment  for  the 
construction  and  repair  of  iron  vessels,  and  the  machinery 
and  armature  for  our  ships,  to  which  reference  was  made 
in  my  last  annual  message.    • 

Your  attention  is  also  invited  to  the  views  expressed  in 
the  report  in  relation  to  the  legislatioil  of  Congress  at  its 
last  session  in  respect  to  prize  on  our  inland  waters. 

I  cordially  concur  in  the  recommendation  of  the  Secre- 
tary as  to  the  propriety  of  creating  the  new  rank  of  vice- 
admiral  in  our  naval  service. 

Your  attention  is  invited  to  the  report  of  the  Postmaster 
General  for  a  detailed  account  of  the  operations  and  finan- 
cial condition  of  the  Post  Office  Department. 

The  postal  revenues  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1864, 
amounted  to  $12,438,353.78,  and  the  expenditures  to  $12,- 
644,786.20;  the  excess  of  expenditures  over  receipts  being 
$206,652.42. 

The  views  presented  by  the  Postmaster  General  on  the 
subject  of  special  grants  by  the  Government  in  aid  of  the 
establishment  of  new  lines  of  ocean  mail  steamships  and 
the  policy  he  recommefids  for  the  development  of  increased 
commercial  intercourse  with  adjacent  and  neighboring 
countries,  should  receive  the  careful  consideration  of  Con- 
gress. 

It  is  of  noteworthy  interest  that  the  steady  expansion  of 
population,  improvement,  and  governmental  institutions 


352  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

over  the  new  and  unoccupied  portions  of  our  country  has 
scarcely  been  checked,  much  less  impeded  or  destroyed,  by 
our  great  civil  war,  which  at  first  glance  would  seem  to  have 
absorbed  almost  the  entire  energies  of  the  nation. 

The  organization  and  admission  of  the  State  of  Nevada 
lias  been  completed  in  conformity  with  law,  and  thus  our 
excellent  system  is  firmly  established  in  the  mountains 
which  once  seemed  a  barren  uninhabitable  waste  between 
the  Atlantic  States  and,  those  which  have  grown  up  on  the 
coast  of  the  Pacific  ocean. 

The  Territories  of  the  Union  are  generally  in  a  condition 
of  prosperity  and  rapid  growth.  Idaho  and  Montana,  by 
reason  of  their  great  distance  and  the  interruption  of  com- 
munications with  them  by  Indian  hostilities,  have  been  only 
partially  organized;  but  it  is  understood  that  these  diffi- 
culties are  about  to  disappear,  which  will  permit  their 
governments,  like  those  of  the  others,  to  go  into  speedy 
and  full  operation. 

As  intimately  connected  with  and  promotive  of  this 
material  growth  of  the  nation,  I  ask  the  attention  of  Con- 
gress to  the  valuable  information  and  important  recom- 
mendations relating  to  the  public  lands,  Inchan  affairs,  the 
Pacific  railroad,  and  mineral  discoveries  contained  in  the 
report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  which  is  herewith 
transmitted,  and  which  report  also  embraces  the  subjects 
of  patents,  pensions,  and  other  topics  of  public  interest 
pertaining  to  this  Department. 

The  quantity  of  public  land  disposed  of  during  the  five 
quarters  ending  on  the  30th  of  September  last  was  4,221,- 
342  acres,  of  which  1,538,614  acres  were  entered  under  the 
homestead  law.  The  remainder  was  located  with  military 
land  warrants,  agricultural  scrip  certified  to  States  for 
railroads,  and  sold  for  cash.  The  cash  received  from  sales 
and  location  fees  was  $1,019,446. 


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UEUTENANT-GENERAL  SHERIDAN. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  353 

The  income  from  sales  during  the  fiscal  year  ending  the 
30th  of  June,  1864,  was  $678,007.21,  against  $136,077.95 
received  during  the  preceding  year.  The  aggregate  num- 
ber of  acres  surveyed  during  the  year  has  been  equal  to  the 
quantity  disposed  of;  and  there  is  open  to  settlement  about 
133,000,000  acres  of  surveyed  land. 

The  great  enterprise  of  connecting  the  Atlantic  with  the 
Pacific  States  by  railways  and  telegraph  lines  has  been  en- 
tered upon  with  a  vigor  that  gives  assurance  of  success, 
notwithstanding  the  embarrassments  arising  from  the  pre- 
vailing high  prices  of  materials  and  labor.  The  route  of 
the  main  line  of  the  road  has  been  definitely  located  for  one 
hundred  miles  westward  from  the  initial  point  at  Omaha 
City,  Nebraska,  and  a  preliminary  location  of  the  Pacific 
railroad  of  California  has  been  made  from  Sacramento 
eastward  to  the  great  bend  of  the  Truckee  river  in  Nevada. 

Numerious  discoveries  of  gold,  silver,  and  cinnabar  mines 
have  been  added  to  the  many  heretofore  known,  and  the 
country  occupied  by  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Rocky  moun- 
tains, and  the  subordinate  ranges,  now  teems  with  enter- 
prising labor,  which  is  richly  renumerative.  It  is  believed 
that  the  product  of  the  mines  of  precious  metals  in  that 
region  has,  during  the  year,  reached,  if  not  exceeded,  one 
hundred  millions  in  value. 

It  was  recommended  in  my  last  annual  message  that  our 
Indian  system  be  remodeled.  Congress,  at  its  last  session, 
acting  upon  the  recommendation,  flid  provide  for  re-organ- 
izing the  system  in  California,  and  it  is  believed  that  under 
the  present  organization  the  management  of  the  Indians 
there  will  be  attended  with  reasonable  success.  Much  yet 
remains  to  be  done  to  provide  for  the  proper  government 
of  the  Indians  in  other  parts  of  the  country  to  render  it 
secure  for  the  advancing  settler,  and  to  provide  for  the 
welfare  of  the  Indian.     The  Secretary  reiterates  his  rec- 


354  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

ommendations,  and  to  them  the  attention  of  Congress 
is  invited. 

The  liberal  provisions  made  by  Congress  for  paying  pen- 
sions to  invalid  soldiers,  and  sailors  of  the  Republic  and  to 
the  widows,  orphans,  and  dependent  mothers  of  those  who 
have  fallen  in  battle,  or  died  of  disease  contracted,  or  of 
wounds  received  in  the  service  of  their  country,  have  been 
diligently  administered.  There  have  been  added  to  the 
pension  rolls,  during  the  year  ending  the  30th  day  of  June 
last,  the  names  of  16,770  invalid  soldiers,  and  of  271  dis- 
abled seamen,  making  the  present  number  of  Army  invalid 
pensioners  22,767,  and  of  Navy  invalid  pensioners  712. 

Of  widows,  orphans,  and  mothers,  22,198  have  been 
placed  on  the  Army  pension  rolls,  and  248  on  the  Navy 
rolls.  The  present  number  of  Army  pensioners  of  this 
class  is  25,433,  and  of  Navy  pensioners  793.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year  the  number  of  revolutionary  pensioners 
was  1,430;  only  twelve  of  them  were  soldiers,  of  whom 
seven  have  since  died.  The  remainder  are  those  who, 
under  the  law,  receive  pensions  because  of  relationship  to 
revolutionary  soldiers.  During  the  year  ending  the  30th 
of  June,  1S64,  $4,504,616.92  have  been  paid  to  pensioners 
of  all  classes. 

I  cheerfully  commend  to  your  continued  patronage  the 
benevolent  institutions  of  the  District  of  Columbia  which 
have  hitherto  been  established  or  fostered  by  Congress, 
and  respectfully  refer,  for  information  concerning  them, 
and  in  relation  to  the  Washington  acqueduct,  the  Capitol, 
and  other  matters  of  local  interest,  to  the  report  of  the 
Secretary. 

The  Agricultural  Department,  under  the  supervision  of 
its  present  energetic  and  faithful  head,  is  rapidly  com- 
mending itself  to  the  great  and  vital  interest  it  was  created 
to  advance.     It  is  peculiarly  the  people's  Department,  in 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  355 

which  they  feel  more  directly  concernefl  than  in  any  other 
I  commend  it  to  the  continued  attention  and  fostering  care 
of  Congress. 

The  war  continues.  Since  the  last  annual  message  all 
the  important  lines  and  positions  then  occupied  by  our 
forces  have  been  maintained,  and  our  arms  have  steadily 
advanced;  thus  liberating  the  regions  left  in  the  rear,  so 
that  Missouri,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  parts  of  other 
States  have  again  produced  reasonably  fair  crops. 

The  most  remarkable  feature  in  the  military  operations 
of  the  year  is  General  Sherman's  attempted  march  of  three 
hundred  miles  directly  through  the  insurgent  region.  It 
tends  to  show  a  great  increase  of  our  relative  strength  that 
our  General-in-Cliief  should  feel  able  to  confront  and  hold 
in  check  every  active  force  of  the  enemy,  and  yet  to  detach 
a  well-appointed  large  army  to  move  on  such  an  expedition. 
The  result  not  yet  being  known,  conjecture  in  regard  to  it 
is  not  here  indulged. 

Important  movements  have  also  occurred  during  the 
year  to  the  effect  of  moulding  society  for  durability  in  the 
Union.  Although  short  of  complete  success,  it  is  much  in 
the  right  direction,  that  twelve  thousand  citizens  in  each 
of  the  States  of  Arkansas  and  Louisiana  have  organized 
loyal  State  governments,  with  free  constitutions,  and  are 
earnestly  struggling  to  maintain  and  administer  them. 
The  movements  in  the  same  direction,  more  extensive, 
though  less  definite,  in  Missouri,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee, 
should  not  be  overlooked.  But  Maryland  presents  the 
example  of  complete  success.  Maryland  is  secure  to 
Liberty  and  Union  for  all  the  future.  The  genius  of  rebel- 
lion will  no  more  claim  Maryland.  Like  another  foul 
spirit,  being  driven  out,  it  may  seek  to  tear  her  but  it  will 
woo  her  no  more. 
At  the  last  session  of  Congress  a  proposed  amendment  of 


356  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

the  Constitution,  abolishing  slavery  throughout  the  United 
States,  passed  the  Senate,  but  failed  for  lack  of  the  re- 
quisite two-thirds  vote  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
Although  the  present  is  the  same  Congress,  and  nearly  the 
same  members,  and  without  questioning  the  wisdom  or 
patriotism  of  those  who  stood  in  opposition,  I  venture  to 
recommend  the  reconsideration  and  passage  of  the  measure 
at  the  present  session.  Of  course  the  abstract  question  is 
not  changed;  but  an  intervening  election  shows,  almost 
certainly,  that  the  next  Congress  will  pass  the  measure  if 
this  does  not.  Hence  there  is  only  a  question  of  time  as  to 
when  the  proposed  amendment  will  go  to  the  States  for 
their  action.  And  as  it  is  so  to  go,  at  all  events,  may  we 
not  agree  that  the  sooner  the  better?  It  is  not  claimed 
that  the  election  has  imposed  a  duty  on  members  to  change 
their  views  or  their  votes,  any  further  than,  as  an  additional 
element  to  be  considered,  their  judgment  may  be  affected 
by  it.  It  is  the  voice  of  the  people  now,  for  the  first  time, 
heard  upon  the  question.  In  a  great  national  crisis  like 
ours,  unanimity  of  action  among  those  seeking  a  common 
end  is  very  desirable — almost  indispensable.  And  yet  no 
approach  to  such  unanimity  is  attainable  unless  some  defer- 
ence shall  be  paid  to  the  will  of  the  majority  simply  because 
it  is  the  will  of  the  majority.  In  this  case  the  common  end 
is  the  maintenance  of  the  Union :  and,  among  the  means 
to  secure  that  end,  such  will,  through  the  election,  is  most 
clearly  declared  in  favor  of  such  constitutional  amendment. 
The  most  reliable  indication  of  public  purpose  in  this 
comitry  is  derived  through  our  popular  election.  Judging 
by  the  recent  canvass  and  its  result,  the  purpose  of  the 
people,  within  the  loyal  States,  to  maintain  the  integrity 
of  the  Union,  was  never  more  firm,  nor  more  nearly  unani- 
mous than  now.  The  extraordinary  calmness  and  good 
order  with  which  the  millions  of  voters  met  and  mingled 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  357 

at  the  polls,  give  strong  assurance  of  this.  Not  only  all 
those  who  supported  the  Union  ticket,  so  called,  but  a 
great  majority  of  the  opposing  party  also,  may  be  fairly 
claimed  to  entertain  and  to  be  actuated  by  the  same  pur- 
pose. It  is  an  unanswerable  argument  to  this  effect,  that 
no  candidate  for  any  ofhco  whatever,  high  or  low,  has 
ventured  to  seek  votes  on  the  avowal  that  ho  was  for  giving 
up  the  Union.  There  have  been  much  impugning  of  mo- 
tives, and  much  heated  controversy  as  to  the  proper  means 
and  best  mode  of  advancing  the  Union  cause;  but  on  the 
distinct  issue  of  Union  or  no  Union  the  politicians  have 
shown  their  instinctive  knowledge  that  there  is  no  diversity 
among  the  people.  In  affording  the  people  the  fair  oppor- 
tunity of  showing,  one  to  another,  and  to  the  world,  this 
firmness  and  unanimity  of  purpose,  the  election  has  been 
of  vast  value  to  the  national  cause. 

The  election  has  exhibited  another  fact  not  less  valuable 
to  be  known — the  fact  that  we  do  not  approach  exhaustion 
in  the  most  important  branch  of  national  resources — that 
of  living  men.  While  it  is  melancholy  to  reflect  that  the 
war  has  filled  so  many  graves  and  carried  mourning  to  so 
many  hearts,  it  is  some  relief  to  know  that,  compared  with 
the  surviving,  the  fallen  have  been  so  few.  While  corps, 
and  divisions,  and  brigades,  and  regiments  have  formed 
and  fought  and  dwindled  and  gone  out  of  existence,  a  great 
majority  of  the  men  M-ho  composed  them  are  still  living. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  naval  service.  The  election  returns 
prove  this.  So  many  voters  could  not  else  be  found.  The 
States  regularly  holding  elections,  both  now  and  four  years 
ago,  to  wit:  California,  Connecticut,  Delaware,  Illinois, 
Indiana,  Iowa,  Kentucky,  Maine,  Maryland,  Massachu- 
setts, Michigan,  Minnesota,  Missouri,  New  Hampshire, 
New  Jersey,  New  York,  Ohio,  Oregon,  Pennsylvania, 
Rhode  Island,  Vermont,  West  ^■irginia  and  Wisconsin, 


358  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

cast  3,982,011  votes  now  against  3,870,222  cast  then,  show- 
ing an  aggregate  now  of  3,982,011.  To  this  is  to  be  added 
33,762  cast  now  in  the  new  States  of  Kansas  and  Nevada, 
which  States  did  not  vote  in  1860,  thus  swelhng  the  aggre- 
gate to  4,015,773,  and  the  net  increase  during  the  three 
years  and  a  half  of  war  to  145,551.  A  table  is  appended 
showing  particulars.  To  this  again  should  be  added  the 
number  of  all  soldiers  in  the  field  from  Massachusetts, 
Rhode  Island,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Indiana,  Illinois  and 
California,  who  by  the  laws  of  those  States  could  not  vote 
away  from  their  homes,  and  which  number  can  not  be  less 
than.90,000.  Nor  yet  is  this  all.  The  number  in  organized 
Territories  is  triple  now  what  it  was  four  years  ago,  whije 
thousands,  white  and  black,  join  us  as  the  national  arms 
press  back  the  insurgent  lines.  So  much  is  shown  affirm- 
atively and  negatively  by  the  election.  It  is  not  material 
to  inquire  how  the  increase  has  been  produced,  or  to  show 
that  it  would  have  been  greater  but  for  the  war,  which  is 
jjrobably  true.  The  important  fact  remains  demonstrated 
that  we  have  more  men  now  than  we  had  when  the  war 
began;  that  we  are  not  exhausted  nor  in  process  of  exhaus- 
tion ;  that  we  are  gaining  strength  and  may,  if  need  be,  main- 
tain the  contest  indefinitely.  This  as  to  men.  Material 
resources  are  now  more  complete  and  abundant  than  ever. 
The  national  resources,  then,  are  unexhausted,  and,  as  we 
believe,  inexhaustible.  The  public  purpose  to  reestablish 
and  maintain  the  national  authority  is  unchanged,  and, 
as  we  believe,  unchangeable.  The  manner  of  continuing 
the  effort  remains  to  choo.se.  On  careful  consideration  of 
all  the  evidence  accessible,  it  seems  to  me  that  no  attempt 
at  negotiation  with  the  insurgent  leader  could  result  in  any 
good.  He  would  accept  nothing  short  of  severance  of  the 
Union — precisely  what  we  will  not  and  can  not  give.  His 
declarations  to  this  effect  are  explicit  and  oft-repeated. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  359 

He  does  not  attempt  to  deceive  us.  He  affords  us  no  ex- 
cuse to  deceive  ourselves.  He  can  not  voluntarily  re- 
accept  the  Union;  we  can  not  voluntarily  yield  it.  Be- 
tween him  and  us  the  issue  is  distinct,  simple,  and  inflexible. 
It  is  an  issue  which  can  only  be  tried  by  war,  and  decided 
by  victory.  If  we  yield,  we  are  beaten;  if  the  Southern 
people  fail  him  he  is  beaten.  Either  way,  it  would  be  the 
victory  and  defeat  following  war.  What  is  true,  however, 
of  him  who  heads  the  insurgent  cause,  is  not  necessarily 
true  of  those  who  follow.  Although  he  can  not  re-accept 
the  Union,  they  can.  Some  of  them,  we  know,  already 
desire  peace  and  re-union.  The  number  of  such  may  in- 
crease. They  can  at  any  moment  have  peace  simply  by 
laying  down  their  arms  and  submitting  to  the  national 
authority  under  the  Constitution.  After  so  much,  the 
Government  could  not,  if  it  would,  maintain  war  against 
them.  The  loyal  people  would  not  sustain  or  allow  it.  If 
questions  should  remain,  we  would  adjust  them  by  the 
peaceful  means  of  legislation,  conference,  courts  and  votes, 
operating  only  in  constitutional  and  lawful  channels.  Some 
certain,  and  other  possible,  questions  are,  and  would  be, 
beyond  the  executive  power  to  adjust;  as,  for  instance,  the 
admission  of  members  into  Congress,  and  whatever  might 
require  the  appropriation  of  money.  The  executive  power 
itself  would  be  greatly  diminished  by  the  cessation  of  actual 
war.  Pardons  and  remissions  of  forfeitures,  however, 
would  still  be  within  executive  control.  In  what  spirit 
and  tewper  this  control  would  be  exercised  can  be  fairly 
judged  of  by  the  past. 

A  year  ago,  general  pardon  and  amnesty,  upon  specified 
terms,  were  offered  to  all,  except  certain  designated  classes; 
and  it  was,  at  the  same  time,  made  known  that  the  excepted 
classes  were  still  within  contemplation  of  special  clemency. 
During  the  year  many  availed  themselves  of  the  general 


360  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

provision,  and  many  more  would,  only  that  tlie  signs  of 
bad  faith  in  some,  led  to  such  precautionary  measures  as 
rendered  the  practical  process  less  easy  and  certain.  Dur- 
ing the  same  time,  also,  special  pardons  have  been  granted 
to  individuals  of  the  accepted  classes,  and  no  voluntary  ap- 
plication has  been  denied.  Thus,  practically,  the  door  has 
been,  for  a  full  j^ear,  open  to  all,  except  such  as  were  not  in 
condition  to  make  free  choice — that  is,  such  as  were  in  cus- 
tody or  under  constraint.  It  is  still  so  open  to  all.  But 
the  time  may  come— probably  will  come — when  public 
duty  shall  demand  that  it  be  closed;  and  that,  in 
lieu,  more  rigorous  measures  than  heretofore  shall  be 
dopted. 

In  presenting  the  abandonment  of  armed  resistance  to 
the  national  authority  on  the  part  of  the  insurgents,  as  the 
only  indispensable  condition  of  ending  the  war  on  the  part 
of  the  Government,  I  retract  nothing  heretofore  said  as  to 
slavery.  I  repeat  the  declaration  made  a  year  ago,  that 
"  while  I  remain  in  my  present  position,  I  shall  not  attempt 
to  retract  or  modify  the  emancipation  proclamation,  nor 
shall  I  return  to  slavery  any  person  who  is  free  by  the  terms 
of  that  proclamation,  or  by  any  of  the  acts  of  Congress." 
It  the  people  should,  by  whatever  mode  or  means,  make  it 
an  executive  duty  to  reenslave  such  persons,  another,  and 
not  I,  must  be  their  instrument  to  perform  it. 

In  stating  a  single  condition  of  peace,  I  mean  simply  to 
say  that  the  war  will  cease  on  the  part  of  the  Government 
whenever  it  shall  have  ceased  on  the  part  of  those  who 
began    it.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

December  6,  1864. 

The  morning  of  the  4th  of  March,  1865,  was  dark  with 
clouds  and  rain.  The  previous  stormy  night  Mr.  Lincoln, 
with  the  members  of  his  Cabinet,  remained  at  the  Presi- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


361 


dent's  room,  in  the  north  wing  of  the  capitol,  until  a  late 
hour,  considering  and  signing  bills  which  came  thronging 
upon  him,  in  the  usual  manner,  during  the  closing  hours 
of  a  Congress  soon  to  be  dissolved.  The  President  had  a 
somewhat  care-worn  look,  but  a  cheerfulness  of  manner, 
manifesting  itself  in  occasional  pleasantry,  or  in  the  re- 
lation of  some  suggested  incident  or  anecdote,  as  was  his 
wont  in  his  most  seriously  earnest  moods.  He  had  a  genial 
word  for  occasional  visitors,  and  a  ready  ear,  as  always,  for 
whatever  had  any  fair  claim  to  his  attention. 

While  the  President  was  thus  waiting  at  the  capitol, 
there  came  to  the  Secretary  of  War  a  telegraphic  dispatch 
from  Gen.  Grant,  announcing  that  Gen.  Lee  had  sought  an 
interview  with  the  Lieutenant-General,  for  the  purpose  of 
arranging  terms  of  peace.  It  is  now  known  that  Lee  had 
for  several  months  despaired  of  final  success  in  the  unholy 
work  which  he  had  deserted  the  United  States  Army  to  en- 
gage in,  and  that  he  prudently  desired  to  end  the  war,  ac- 
cepting the  best  terms  that  could  be  made. 

It  was  Lee's  letter,  thus  referred  to,  that  formed  the  sub- 
ject of  Gen.  Grant's  dispatch  to  President  Lincoln.,  This 
dispatch,  Mr,  Stanton  inform  us,  "  was  submitted  to  Mr. 
Lincoln,  who,  after  pondering  a  few  minutes,  took  up  his 
pen  and  wrote  with  his  own  hand  the  following  reply,  which 
he  submitted  to  the  Secretary  of  State  and  Secretary  of 
War.  It  was  then  dated,  addressed  and  signed  by  the 
Secretary  of  War,  and  telegraphed  to  Gen.  Grant:" 


Washington,    March    3,    1865,    12    P.    M. 
Lieutenant-General  Grant: 

The  President  directs  me  to  say  to  you  that  he  wishes  you 
to  have  no  conference  with  Gen.  Lee,  unless  it  be  for  the 
capitulation  of  Gen.  Lee's  army,  or  on  some  minor  and 
purely  military  matter.     He  instructs  me  to  say  that  you 


362  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

are  not  to  decide,  discuss,  or  confer  upon  any  political 
question.  Such  questions  the  President  holds  in  his  own 
hands,  and  will  submit  them  to  no  military  conferences  or 
conventions.  Meantime  you  are  to  press  to  the  utmost 
your  military  advantages. 

Edwin  M.  Stanton, 
Secretary  of  War. 

The  morning  of  Saturday,  the  4th  of  March,  found  the 
President  again  at  his  post  at  the  capitol,  while  the  world 
outside  was  still  dismal  with  the  continuing  storm.  Many 
thousands  had  come  from  far  and  near  to  witness  the  re- 
inauguration  of  a  loved  President.  The  condition  of  the 
skies  and  the  streets  was  dismal.  The  procession,  which 
would  otherwise,  perhaps,  have  surpassed  any  previous  one 
in  numbers  and  show,  lost  much  of  its  attraction.  Yet 
was  there  never  a  more  numerous  and  sympathetic  turn- 
out of  the  people  at  any  like  ceremony. 

Standing  in  this  presence,  with  a  clear  voice,  mellowed  by 
the  emotion  of  the  hour  and  by  the  slightly  plaintive  tone 
usually  pervading  his  utterances,  Mr.  Lincoln  deUvered 
the  following: 

Inaugural  Address. 

Fellow-Countrym  en  : 

At  this  second  appearing  to  take  the  oath  of  the  Presi- 
dential office,  there  is  less  occasion  for  an  extended  address 
than  there  was  at  the  first.  Then,  a  statement,  somewhat 
in  detail,  of  a  course  to  be  pursued,  seemed  fitting  and 
proper.  Now,  at  the  expiration  of  four  years,  during  which 
public  declarations  have  been  constantly  called  forth  on 
every  point  and  phase  of  the  great  contest  which  still  ab- 
sorbs the  attention  and  engrosses  the  energies  of  the  nation, 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  363 

little  that  is  new  could  be  presented.  The  progress  of  our 
arms,  upon  wluch  all  else  chiefly  depends,  is  as  well  known 
to  the  public  as  to  myself;  and  it  is,  I  trust,  reasonably 
satisfactory  and  encouraging  to  all.  With  high  hope  for 
the  future,  no  prediction  in  regard  to  it  is  ventured. 

On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this  four  years  ago,  all 
thoughts  were  anxiously  directed  to  an  impending  civil 
war.  All  dreaded  it:  all  sought  to  avert  it.  While  the 
inaugural  address  was  being  delivered  from  tliis  place, 
devoted  altogether  to  saving  the  Union  without  war,  in- 
surgent agents  were  in  the  city  seeking  to  destroy  it  without 
war — seeking  to  dissolve  the  Union,  and  divide  effects,  by 
negotiation.  Both  parties  deprecated  war ;  but  one  of  them 
would  make  war  rather  than  let  the  nation  survive;  and 
the  other  would  accept  war  rather  than  let  it  perish.  And 
the  war  came. 

One-eighth  of  the  whole  population  were  colored  slaves, 
not  distributed  generally  over  the  Union,  but  localized  in 
the  southern  part  of  it.  These  slaves  constituted  a  pecu- 
liar and  powerful  interest.  All  knew  that  this  interest 
was,  somehow,  the  cause  of  the  war.  To  strengthen,  per- 
petuate, and  extend  this  interest  was  the  object  for  which 
the  insurgents  would  rend  the  Union,  even  by  war;  while 
the  Government  claimed  no  right  to  do  more  than  to  re- 
strict the  territorial  enlargement  of  it.  Neither  party  ex- 
pected for  the  war  the  magnitude  or  the  duration  which  it 
has  already  attained.  Neither  anticipated  that  the  cause 
of  the  conflict  might  cease  with,  or  even  before,  the  conflict 
itself  should  cease.  Each  looked  for  an  easier  triumph, 
and  a  result  less  fundamental  and  astounding.  Both  read 
the  same  Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same  God ;  and  each  invoked 
His  aid  against  the  other.  It  may  seem  strange  that  any 
men  should  dare  to  ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in  WTUiging 
their  bread  from  the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces;  but  let  us 


364 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


judge  not,  that  we  be  not  judged.  The  prayers  of  both 
could  not  be  answered :  that  of  neither  has  been  answered 
fully.  The  Almighty  has  His  own  purposes.  "Woe  unto 
the  world  because  of  offenses!  for  it  must  needs  be  that 
offenses  come;  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offense 
Cometh."  If  we  shall  suppose  American  slavery  is  one  of 
those  offenses  which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  must  needs 
come,  but  wliich,  having  continued  through  His  appointed 
time,  He  now  wills  to  remove,  and  that  He  gives  to  both 
North  and  South  this  terrible  war,  as  the  woe  due  to  those 
by  whom  the  offense  came,  shall  we  discern  therein  any 
departure  from  those  divine  attributes  which  the  believers 
in  a  living  God  always  ascribe  to  Him?  Fondly  do  we 
hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war 
may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it  continue 
until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  of  unrequitted  toil  shall  be  simk,  and  until 
every  drop  of  blood  drawm  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by 
another  drawTi  -nnth  the  sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand 
years  ago,  so  still  it  mu-st  be  said,  "The  judgments  of  the 
Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether." 

"U^ith  malice  toward  none,  vath  charity  for  all,  with  firm- 
ness in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us 
strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in ;  to  bind  up  the  nation's 
wounds;  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle, 
and  for  his  widow,  and  his  orphans;  to  do  all  which  may 
achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  a  lasting  peace  among  our- 
selves and  with  all  nations. 


On  the  17th  of  March,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  present  at 
the  presentation  to  Gov.  Morton,  of  Indiana,  of  a  flag 
captured  at  Fort  Anderson,  near  Wilmington,  by  Indiana 
troops.  The  ceremony  occurred  at  the  National  Hotel, 
and   the   President,  responding  to   the   request   of  those 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  365 

present,    made    the    following    memorable    speech  from 
the  balcony: 

Fellow  Citizens:  It  will  be  but  a  very  few  words 
that  I  shall  undertake  to  say.  I  was  born  in  Kentucky; 
raised  in  Indiana,  and  live  in  Illinois  [laughter],  and  I 
now  am  here,  where  it  is  my  business  to  be,  to  care  equally 
for  the  good  people  of  all  the  States.  I  am  glad  to  see 
an  Indiana  regiment  on  this  day  able  to  present  this 
captured  flag  to  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  Indiana. 
I  am  not  disposed,  in  saying  this,  to  make  a  distinction 
between  the  States,  for  all  have  done  equally  well. 

There  are  but  few  views  or  aspects  of  this  great  war 
upon  which  I  have  not  said  or  written  something,  whereby 
my  own  views  might  be  made  known.  There  is  one: 
the  recent  attempt  of  our  erring  brethren,  as  they  are 
sometimes  called  [laughter],  to  employ  the  negro  to  fight 
for  them.  I  have  neither  written  nor  made  a  speech 
upon  that  subject,  because  that  was  their  business  and 
not  mine;  and  if  I  had  a  wish  upon  the  subject,  I  had 
not  the  power  to  introduce  it  or  make  it  affective. 

The  great  question  with  them  was,  whether  the  negro, 
being  put  into  the  army,  will  fight  for  them.  I  do  not 
know,  and,  therefore  can  not  decide.  [Laughter.]  They 
ought  to  know  better  than  we,  and  do  know.  I  have 
in  my  life-time  heard  many  arguments  why  the  negro 
ought  to  be  a  slave ;  but  if  they  fight  for  those  who  would 
keep  them  in  slavery  it  will  be  a  better  argument  than 
any  I  have  yet  heard.  He  who  will  fight  for  that  ought 
to  be  a  slave.  [Applause].  They  have  concluded,  at 
last,  to  take  one  out  of  four  of  the  slaves  and  put  him 
in  the  army;  and  that  one  out  of  the  four,  who  will  fight 
to  keep  the  others  in  slavery,  ought  to  be  a  slave  him- 
self, unless  he  is  killed  in  a  fight.     While  I  have  often 


366 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


said  that  all  men  ought  to  be  free,  yet  I  ^vould  allow 
those  colored  persons  to  be  slaves  who  want  to  be;  and, 
next  to  them,  those  white  men  who  argue  in  favor  of 
making  other  people  slaves.  I  am  in  favor  of  givuig 
an  opportunity  to  such  white  men  to  try  it  for  them- 
selves.    [Applause.] 

I  will  say  one  thing  with  regard  to  the  negro  being 
employed  to  fight  for  them  that  I  do  know.  I  know  he 
cannot  fight  and  stay  at  home  and  make  bread  too.  [Laugh- 
ter and  applause.]  And  as  one  is  about  as  important 
as  the  other  to  them,  I  don't  care  which  they  do.  I  am 
rather  in  favor  of  having  them  try  them  as  soldiers.  They 
lack  one  vote  of  doing  that,  and  I  wish  I  coukl  send  my 
vote  over  the  river,  so  that  I  might  cast  it  in  favor  of 
allowing  the  negro  to  fight.  [Applause.]  But  they  can 
not  fight  and  work  both.  We  must  now  see  the  bottom 
of  the  enemj^'s  resources.  They  will  stand  out  as  long 
as  they  can,  and  if  the  negro  will  fight  for  them,  they 
must  allow  him  to  fight.  They  have  drawn  upon  their 
last  branch  of  resources,  and  we  can  now  see  the  bottom. 
[Applause.]  I  am  glad  to  see  the  end  so  near  at  hand. 
[Applause.]  I  have  said  now  more  than  I  intended  to, 
and  will  therefore  bid  you  good-by. 


Sunday,  the  2d  of  April,  was  a  memorable  day  for 
Richmond  and  the  Rebellion.  As  the  people  of  that 
city  went  to  church  in  the  morning,  they  knew  that  during 
the  last  two  or  three  days  there  had  been  fighting  on 
Lee's  right,  and  among  their  impressions  of  the  result, 
that  of  a  defeat  of  Meade's  Fifth  Corps  was  the  most 
vivid.  Not  even  Jefferson  Davis  or  Gov.  Smith,  though 
better  informed,  had  any  thought,  on  that  morning, 
that  the  last  day  of  their  power  in  Richmond  had  come. 
Davis  was  quietly  seated  in  his  pew.     Praj-ers  had  been 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  367 

said.  The  reverend  pastor  had  begun  his  discourse. 
Presently  the  sexton,  moving  softly  up  the  aisle,  put  a 
telegraphic  dispatch  in  the  hand  of  the  "Confederate 
President."  That  functionary  rose,  and,  followed  by 
many  inquiring  but  not  startled  eyes,  stalked  out  of  the 
sanctuary.  The  discourse  went  on  to  the  end,  and  the 
concluding  exercises,  even  to  the  collection,  were  not 
omitted.  The  news  was  then  broken  to  the  minister, 
and  speedily  spread  among  his  flock.  The  lines  before 
Petersburg  had  been  broken  through  by  Grant's  whole 
army,  and  Lee  had  apprised  his  superior  that  Richmond 
must  be  evacuated.  Davis  and  his  chief  associates 
moved  away  that  night  toward  Danville.  On  the  follow- 
ing morning.  Gen.  Weitzel's  colored  troops,  of  the  Army 
of  the  James,  entered  the  city,  which  was  now  wrapped 
in  flames  kindled  by  Rebel  hands.  Despite  the  efforts 
of  the  soldiers  to  extinguish  the  conflagration,  an  im- 
portant portion  of  the  city  was  destroyed. 

President  Lincoln,  who  was  awaiting  at  City  Point 
the  results  of  the  movement  commenced  on  the  29th  of 
March,  transmitted,  successively,  the  following  dispatches 
to  Secretary  Stanton: 

City  Point,  Va.,  April  2—8.30  A.  M. 
Hon.  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War: 

Last  night  Gen.  Grant  telegraphed  that  Gen.  Sheridan, 
with  his  cavalry,  and  the  Fifth  Corps,  had  captured 
three  brigades  of  infantry,  a  train  of  wagons,  and  several 
batteries— prisoners  amounting  to  several  thousand.  This 
morning,  Gen.  Grant,  having  ordered  an  attack  along 
the   whole   line,   telegraphs   as   follows: 

"Both  Wright  and  Parke  got  through  the  enemy's 
lines.  The  battle  now  rages  furiously.  Gen.  Sheridan, 
with  his  cavalry,   the  Fifth  Corps,   and  Miles'   division 


3G8  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

of  the  Second  Corps,  which  was  sent  to  him  since  one 
o'clock  this  morning,  is  now  sweeping  do-\vn  from  the 
west." 

All  now  looks  highly  favorable.  Gen.  Ord  is  engaged, 
but  I  have  not  yet  heard  the  result  in  his  front. 

A.  Lincoln. 

Gen.  Grant,  in  the  meantime,  had  sent  the  following 
note  to  General  Lee,  there  being  "no  relaxation  in  the 
pursuit:" 

April  7th,  1865. 
Gen.  R.  E.  Lee,  Commanding  C.  S.  A.: 

General:  The  result  of  the  last  week  must  convince 
you  of  the  hopelessness  of  further  resistance  on  the  part 
of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  in  tliis  struggle.  I 
feel  that  it  is  so,  and  regard  it  as  my  duty  to  sliift  from 
myself  the  responsibility  of  any  further  effusion  of  blood, 
by  asking  of  you  the  surrender  of  that  portion  of  the 
Confederate  army  known  as  the  Army  of  Northern  Mr- 
ginia. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

U.  S.  Grant,  Lieutenant-General, 

Commanding  Armies  United  States. 

To  this  the  subjoined  reply  was  received: 

April    7,    1865. 
To  Lieut.-Gen.  U.  S.  Grant,  Commanding  Armies  of  the 

United  States: 

General:  I  have  received  your  note  of  this  date. 
Though  not  entirely  of  the  opinion  you  express  of  the 
hopelessness  of  the  further  resistance  on  the  part  of 
the  Army  of  Northern  Mrginia,  I  reciprocate  your  desire 
to  avoid  useless  effusion  of  blood,  and,  therefore,  con- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  369 

sidering  your  proposition,  ask  the  terms  you  will  offer 
on  condition  of  its  surrender. 

R.  E.  Lee,  General. 

The  remainder  of  this  memorable  correspondence  is 
as  follows: 

Gen.  Grant  to  Gen.  Lee. 

April  8,  1865. 
Gen.  R.  E.  Lee,  Commanding  C.  S.  A.: 

General:  Your  note  of  last  evening,  in  reply  to 
mine  of  same  date,  asking  conditions  on  which  I  will 
accept  the  surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia, 
is  just  received,  in  reply,  I  would  say  that  peace  being 
my  first  desire,  there  is  but  one  condition  I  insist  upon, 
viz.: 

That  the  men  surrendered  shall  be  disqualified  for  tak- 
ing up  arms  against  the  Government  of  the  LTnited  States 
until  properly  exchanged.  I  will  meet  you,  or  designate 
officers  to  meet  any  officers  you  may  name  for  the  same 
purpose,  at  any  point  agreeable  to  j^ou,  for  the  purpose 
of  arranging  definitely  the  terms  upon  which  the  surrender 
of  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia,  will  be  received. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

U.  S.  Grant,  Lieutenant-General. 

Gen.  Lee  to  Gen.  Grant. 

April  8,  1865. 
General:  I  received  at  a  late  hour  your  note  of  to- 
day, in  answer  to  mine  of  yesterday.  I  did  not  intend 
to  propose  the  surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia, but  to  ask  the  terms  of  your  proposition.  To  be 
frank,  I  do  not  think  the  emergency  has  arisen    to    call 


370  LiFa  OF  Abraham  Lincoln. 

for  the  surrender  of  this  army,  but  as  the  restoration 
of  peace  should  be  the  sole  object  of  all,  I  desire  to  know 
whether  your  proposals  would  tend  to  that  end.  I  can 
not,  therefore,  meet  you  with  a  view  to  surrender  the 
Army  of  Northern  \'irginia;  but  as  far  as  your  propo- 
sition may  affect  the  Confederate  States'  forces  under  my 
command,  and  tend  to  the  restoration  of  peace,  I  should 
be  pleased  to  meet  you  at  10  A.  M.  to-morrow,  on  the 
old  stage  road  to  Richmond,  between  the  picket  lines  of 
the  two  armies. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 
R.  E.  Lee,  General, 

Confederate  States  Army. 
Lieut.-Gen.   U.   S.   Grant,   Commanding   United   States 
Armies. 

Gen.  Grant  to  Gen.  Lee. 

April  9,  1865. 
Gen.  R.  E.  Lee,  Commanding  C.  S.  A.: 

General:  Your  note  of  yesterday  is  received.  As 
I  have  no  authority  to  treat  on  the  subject  of  peace, 
the  meeting  proposed  for  10  A.  M.  to-day  could  lead 
to  no  good.  I  will  state  however,  General,  that  I  am 
equally  anxious  for  peace  vnth.  yourself,  and  the  whole 
North  entertains  the  same  feeUng.  The  terms  upon 
which  peace  can  be  had  are  well  understood.  By  the 
South  laying  down  their  arms  they  will  hasten  that 
desirable  event,  save  thousands  of  human  lives,  and 
hundreds  of  millions  of  property  not  yet  destroyed. 

Sincerely  hoping  that  all  our  difficulties  may  be  settled 
without  the  lost  of  another  Ufe,  I  subscribe  myself,  very 
respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

U.  S.  Grant,  Lieutcnant-General. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  37 1 

Gen.  Lee  to  Gen.  Grant. 

April  9,  1865. 
General:  I  received  your  note  of  this  morning  on 
the  picket  line,  whither  I  had  come  to  meet  you,  and 
ascertain  definitely  what  terms  were  embraced  in  your 
proposition  of  yesterday.  With  reference  to  the  surrender 
of  this  army,  I  now  request  an  interview,  in  accordance  with 
the  offer  contained  in  your  letter  of  yesterday  for  that 
purpose. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

R.  E.  Lee,  General. 
Lieut. -Gen.  U.    S.    Grant,    Commanding   United  States 
Armies. 

Gen.  Grant  to  Gen.  Lee. 

April  9,  1865. 
Gen.  R.  E.  Lee,  Commanding  Confederate  States  Army: 
Your  note  of  this  date  is  but  this  moment,  11.50  A.  M. 
received,  in  consequence  of  my  having  passed  from  the 
Richmond  and  Lynchburg  road  to  the  Farmville  and 
Lynchburg  road.  I  am  at  tliis  writing  about  four  miles 
west  of  Walter's  Church,  and  will  push  forward  to  the 
front  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  you.  Notice  sent  to 
me  on  the  road  where  you  wish  the  interview  to  take 
place  will  meet  me. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

U.  S.  Grant,  Lieutenant-Generai. 

Terms  Proposed  by  Gen.  Grant. 

AppoM.vrTox  C.  H.,  April  9,  1865. 
Gen.  R.  E.  Lee,  Commanding  C.  S.  A.: 

In  accordance  with  the  substance  of  my  letter  to  you 
of  the  8th  inst.,  I  propose  the  surrender  of  the  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia  on  the  following  terms,  to  wit: 


372  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Rolls  of  all  of  the  officers  and  men  to  be  made  in  dupli- 
cate ;  one  copy  to  be  given  to  an  officer  to  be  designated  by 
me,  the  other  to  be  retained  by  such  officer  or  officers 
as  you  may  designate.  The  officers  to  give  their  individ- 
ual paroles  not  to  take  arms  against  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  until  properly  exchanged,  and  each 
company  or  regimental  commander  to  sign  a  like  parole 
for  the  men  of  their  commands.  The  arms,  artillery, 
and  public  property  to  be  packed  and  stacked,  and  turned 
over  to  the  officers  appointed  by  me  to  receive  them. 
This  will  not.  embrace  the  side  arms  of  the  officers,  not 
their  private  horses  or  baggage.  This  done,  each  officer 
and  man  will  be  allowed  to  return  to  their  homes,  not 
to  be  disturbed  by  United  States  authority  so  long  as 
they  observe  their  parole  and  the  laws  in  force  where 
they   may   reside. 

Very  respectfully, 

U.  S.  Grant,  Lieutenant-General. 

Gen.  Lee's  Acceptance  of  the  Terms. 

Headquarters  Army  Northern  Virginia,  ) 
April  9,  1865.  ( 

Lieutenant-General  U.  S.  Grant,  Commanding  United  States 
Armies: 
General:     I  have  received  your  letter  of  tliis  date, 
containing  the  terms  of  surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia,  as  proposed  by  you.     As  they  are  substantially 
the  same  as  those  expressed  in  your  letter  of  the  Sth 
inst.,   they   are   accepted.     I   will   proceed   to   designate 
the  proper  officers  to  carry  the  stipulations  into  effect. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 

R.  E.  Lee,  General. 

A   great   throng   gathered    before    the   Wliite    House, 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  373 

while  cannon  were  resoiuKling,  and  bands  playing,  and 
voices  spontaneously  joining  in  choral  accompaniment. 
Mr.  Lincoln,  in  response  to  the  calls  of  the  besieging 
multitude,  appeared  at  the  window  above  the  main 
entrance,  amid  excited  demonstrations  of  affectionate 
respect.  Declining  at  this  moment  to  make  any  extended 
speech,   he   only  said: 

I  am  very  greatly  rejoiceil  that  an  occasion  has  occurred 
so  pleasurable  that  the  people  can't  restrain  themselves. 
I  suppose  that  arrangements  are  being  made  for  some 
sort  of  formal  demonstration,  perhaps  this  evening  or 
to-morrow  night.  If  there  should  be  such  a  demon- 
stration I,  of  course,  shall  have  to  respond  to  it,  and  I 
shall  have  nothing  to  say  if  I  dribble  it  out  before. 
[Laughter  and  cries  of  "We  want  to  hear  you  now,"  etc.] 
I  see  you  have  a  band.  [Voices,  "  We  have  three  of  them."] 
I  propose  now  closing  up  by  requesting  you  to  play  a 
certain  air,  or  tune.  I  have  always  thought  "Dixie" 
one  of  the  best  times  I  ever  heard.    [Laughter.] 

I  have  heard  that  our  adversaries  over  the  way  have 
attempted  to  appropriate  it  as  a  national  air.  I  insisted 
yesterday  that  we  had  fairly  captured  it.  I  presented 
the  question  to  the  Attorney  General,  and  he  gave  his 
opinion  that  it  is  our  lawful  prize.  [Laughter  and  cheers.] 
I  ask  the  band  to  give  us  a  good  turn  upon  it. 

"Dixie"  was  played  with  a  vigor  suited  to  the  temper 
of  the  people,  Mr.  Lincoln  still  remaining  at  the  window. 
As  the  music  ceased,  he  proposed  "three  good,  rousing, 
hearty  cheers  for  Lieut.-Gen.  Grant  and  all  under  his 
command,"  which  were  given.  He  then  called  for  "three 
more  cheers  for  our  gallant  navy,"  which  M'ere  no  less 
energetically  given.    The  President  then  bowed  and  retired. 


374  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Considerable  numbers  were  assembled  in  front  of  the 
Executive  Mansion  at  several  times  during  the  day. 
After  five  o'clock  in  the  evening,  he  again  appeared  at 
the  window,  in  answer  to  the  repeated  calls  of  a  large 
crowd,  and  made  the  following  speech: 

My  Friends:  I  am  informed  that  you  have  assembled 
here  this  afternoon  under  the  impression  that  I  had  made 
an  appointment  to  speak  at  this  time.  This  is  a  mistake. 
I  have  made  no  such  appointment.  More  or  less  persons 
have  been  gathered  here  at  different  times  during  the 
day,  and  in  the  exuberance  of  their  feeling,  and  for  all 
of  which  they  are  greatly  justified,  calUng  upon  me  to 
say  something,  and  I  have,  from  time  to  time,  been 
sending  out  what  I  supposed  was  proper  to  disperse 
them  for    the    present.     [Laughter    and    applause.] 

I  said  to  a  larger  audience  this  morning  which  I  desire 
now  to  repeat.  It  is  this:  That  I  supposed  in  conse- 
quence of  the  glorious  news  we  have  been  recei\-ing  lately 
there  is  to  be  some  general  demonstration,  either  on 
this  or  to-morrow  evening,  when  I  will  be  expected, 
I  presume,  to  say  something.  Just  here,  I  will  remark, 
that  I  would  much  prefer  ha\'ing  this  demonstration 
take  place  to-morrow  evening,  as  I  would  then  be  much 
better  prepared  to  say  what  I  have  to  say  than  I  am 
now  or  can  be  this  evening. 

I  therefore  say  to  you  that  I  shall  be  quite  willing, 
and  I  hope  ready,  to  say  something  then;  whereas  just 
now  I  am  not  ready  to  say  anything  that  one  in  my 
position  ought  to  sa)'.  Everything  I  say,  you  know, 
goes  into  print.  [Laughter  and  applause.]  If  I  make 
a  mistake  it  doesn't  merely  affect  me,  or  you,  but  the 
country.  I,  therefore,  ought  at  least  try  not  to  make 
mistakes. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lixcoln.  375 

If,  then,  a  general  demonstration  be  made  to-morrow 
evening,  and  it  is  agreeable,  I  will  endeavor  to  say  some- 
thing, and  not  make  a  mistake,  without  at  least  trying 
carefully  to  avoid  it.  [Laughter  and  applause.]  Thank- 
ing you  for  the  compliment  of  this  call,  I  bid  j'^ou  good 
evening. 

On  the  evening  of  Tuesday,  April  11th,  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  serenaded;  and  the  general  expectation  of  a  some- 
what elaborate  speech,  giving  a  definite  foreshadowing 
of  his  future  policy  in  regard  to  the  Rebel  States,  attract- 
ed a  very  large  gathering  of  the  people.  The  remarks 
he  designed  to  make  on  this  occasion  were  carefully 
written  out,  and  will  be  ever  memorable  as  the  final 
words  of  political  counsel  which  he  has  left  as  a  legacy 
to  his  country. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Last  Speech. 

We  meet  this  evening  not  in  sorrow,  but  in  gladness 
of  heart.  The  evacuation  of  Petersburg  and  P^ichmond, 
and  the  surrender  of  the  principal  insurgent  army,  give 
hope  of  a  righteous  and  speedy  peace,  whose  joyous 
expression  can  not  be  restrained.  In  the  midst  of  this, 
however.  He  from  whom  all  blessings  flow  must  not  be 
forgotten.  A  call  for  national  thanksgiving  is  being 
prepared,  and  will  be  duly  promulgated.  Nor  must 
those  whose  harder  part  gives  us  the  cause  of 
rejoicing  be  overlooked.  Their  honors  must  not  be 
parceled  out  with  others.  I  myself  was  near  the  front, 
and  had  the  high  pleasure  of  transmitting  much  of  the 
good  news  to  you;  but  no  part  of  the  honor,  for  plan  or 
execution,  is  mine.  To  Gen.  Grant,  his  skillful  officers 
and  brave  men,  all  belongs.  The  gallant  navy  stood 
ready,  but  was  not  in  reach  to  take  active   part. 


376  Life  of  Abrailuvi  Lincoln. 

By  these  recent  successes,  the  re-inauguration  of  the 
national  authority,  reconstruction,  which  has  had  a 
large  share  of  thought  from  the  first,  is  pressed  much 
more  closely  upon  our  attention.  It  is  fraught  with 
great  difficulty.  Unlike  the  case  of  a  war  between 
independent  nations,  there  is  no  authorized  organ  for 
us  to  treat  with.  No  one  man  has  authority  to  give  up  the 
rebellion  for  any  other  man.  We  simply  must  begin 
with  and  mold  from  disorganized  and  discordant  elements. 
Nor  is  it  a  small  additional  embarrassment  that  we,  the 
loyal  people,  differ  among  ourselves  as  to  the  mode, 
maimer  and  means  of  reconstruction. 

As  a  general  rule,  I  abstain  from  reading  the  report 
of  attacks  upon  myself,  wishing  not  to  be  provoked 
by  that  to  which  I  can  not  properly  offer  an  answer. 
In  spite  of  this  precaution,  however,  it  comes  to  my 
knowledge  that  I  am  much  censured  from  some  sup- 
posed agency  in  setting  up  and  seeking  to  sustain  the 
new  State  Government  of  Louisiana.  In  this  I  have 
done  just  so  much  as,  and  no  more  than,  the  public 
knows.  In  the  annual  message  of  December,  1863,  and 
accompanying  proclamation,  I  presented  a  plan  of  recon- 
struction (as  the  phrase  goes),  which  I  promised,  if  adopted 
by  any  State,  should  be  acceptable  to,  and  sustained 
by,  the  Executive  Government  of  the  nation.  I  distinctly 
stated  that  this  was  not  the  only  plan  which  might  possibly 
be  acceptable;  and  I  also  distinctly  protested  that  the 
Executive  claimed  no  right  to  say  when  or  whether  mem- 
bers should  be  admitted  to  seats  in  Congress  from  such 
States.  This  plan  was,  in  advance,  submitted  to  the 
then  Cabinet,  and  distinctly  approved  by  every  mem- 
ber of  it.  One  of  them  suggested  that  I  should  then, 
and  in  that  connection,  apply  the  Emancipation  Proc- 
lamation to  the  theretofore  excepted  parts  of  Mrginia 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  377 

and  Louisiana;  that  I  should  drop  the  suggestion  about 
apprenticeship  for  freed  people,  and  that  I  should  omit 
the  protest  against  my  own  power,  in  regard  to  the  ad- 
mission of  members  to  Congress,  but  even  he  approved 
every  part  and  parcel  of  the  plan  which  has  since  been 
employed  or  touched  by  the  action  of  Louisiana. 

The  new  Constitution  of  Louisiana,  declaring  emancipa- 
tion for  the  whole  State,  practically  applies  the  proclamation 
to  the  part  previously  excepted.  It  does  not  adopt  ap- 
prenticesliip  for  freed  people,  and  it  is  silent,  as  it  could  not 
well  be  otherwise,  about  the  admission  of  members  to  Con- 
gress. So  that,  as  it  applies  to  Louisiana,  every  member 
of  the  Cabinet  fully  approved  the  plan.  The  message 
went  to  Congress,  and  I  received  many  commendations  of 
the  plan,  written  and  verbal;  and  not  a  single  objection  to 
it  from  any  professed  emancipationist  came  to  my  knowl- 
edge, until  after  the  news  reached  Washington  that  the 
people  of  Louisiana  had  begun  to  move  in  accordance  with 
it.  From  about  July,  1862,  I  had  corresponded  with  dif- 
ferent persons,  supposed  to  be  interested,  seeking  a  recon- 
struction of  a  State  government  for  Louisiana.  When  the 
message  of  1863,  with  the  plan  before  mentioned,  reached 
New  Orleans,  Gen.  Banks  wrote  me  he  was  confident  that 
the  people,  with  his  military  co-operation,  would  recon- 
struct substantially  on  that  plan.  I  wrote  him,  and  some 
of  them,  to  try  it.  They  tried  it,  and  the  result  is  known. 
Such  only  has  been  my  agency  in  getting  up  the  Louisiana 
government.  As  to  sustaining  it,  my  promise  is  out,  as 
before  stated.  But,  as  bad  promises  are  better  broken 
than  kept,  I  shall  treat  this  as  a  bad  promise,  and  break  it, 
whenever  I  shall  be  convinced  that  keeping  it  is  adverse 
to  the  public  interest.  But  I  have  not  yet  been  so  con- 
vinced. 

I  have  been  shown  a  letter  on  this  subject,  supposed  to 


378  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

be  an  able  one,  in  which  the  writer  expresses  regret  that  my 
mind  has  not  seemed  to  be  definitely  fixed  on  the  question 
whether  the  seceded  States,  so-called,  are  in  the  Union  or 
out  of  it.  It  would,  perhaps,  add  astonishment  to  his 
regret  were  he  to  learn  that,  since  I  have  found  professed 
Union  men  endeavoring  to  make  that  question,  I  have 
purposely  forborne  any  public  expression  upon  it.  As 
appears  to  me,  that  question  has  not  been,  nor  yet  is,  a 
practically  material  one,  and  that  any  discussion  of  it, 
while  it  thus  remains  practically  immaterial,  could  have 
no  effect  other  than  the  mischievous  one  of  di\'iding  our 
friends.  As  yet,  whatever  it  may  hereafter  become,  that 
question  is  bad,  as  the  basis  of  a  controversy,  and  good  for 
nothing  at  all  a  merely  pernicious  abstraction.  We  all 
agree  that  the  seceded  States,  so-called,  are  out  of  their 
proper  practical  relation  with  the  Union,  and  that  the  sole 
object  of  the  Government,  civil  and  miUtary,  in  regard  to 
those  States,  is  to  again  get  them  into  that  proper  practical 
relation.  I  believe  it  is  not  only  possible,  but  in  fact  easier 
to  do  this  ^^'ithout  deciding,  or  even  considering,  whether 
these  States  have  ever  been  out  of  the  Union,  than  with  it. 
Finding  themselves  safely  at  home,  it  would  be  utterly  im- 
material whether  they  had  ever  been  abroad.  Let  us  all 
join  in  doing  the  acts  necessary  to  restoring  the  proper 
practical  relations  between  these  States  and  the  Union, 
and  each  forever  after  imiocently  indulge  liis  o'mi  opinion 
whether,  in  doing  the  acts,  he  brought  the  States  from 
without  into  the  Union,  or  only  gave  them  proper  assistance 
they  never  ha^'ing  been  out  of  it. 

The  amoimt  of  constituency,  so  to  speak,  on  which  the 
new  Louisiana  government  rests,  would  be  more  satisfactory 
to  all  if  it  contained  fifty,  thirty,  or  even  twenty  thousand, 
instead  of  only  about  twelve  thousand,  as  it  really  does. 
It  is  also  imsatisfactory  to  some  that  the  elective  franchise 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  379 

is  not  given  to  the  colored  man.  I  would  m3''self  prefer 
that  it  were  now  conferred  on  the  very  intelligent,  and  those 
who  serve  our  cause  as  soldiers.  Still  the  question  is  not 
whether  the  Louisiana  government,  as  it  stands,  is  quite 
all  that  is  desirable.  The  question  is,  "Will  it  be  wiser,  to 
take  it  as  it  is,  and  help  to  improve  it,  or  to  reject  and  dis- 
perse it?"  "Can  Louisiana  be  brought  into  proper  prac- 
tical relation  mth  the  Union  sooner  by  sustaining  or  by 
discarding  her  new  State  government?" 

Some  twelve  thousand  voters,  in  the  heretofore  slave 
State  of  Louisiana,  have  sworn  allegiance  to  the  Union, 
assumed  to  be  the  rightful  political  power  of  the  State,  held 
elections,  organized  a  State  government,  adopted  a  free 
State  constitution,  giving  the  benefit  of  public  schools 
equally  to  black  and  white,  and  empowering  the  Legislature 
to  confer  the  elective  franchise  upon  the  colored  man. 
Their  legislature  has  already  voted  to  ratify  the  constitu- 
tional amendment  recently  passed  by  Congress,  abolishing 
slavery  throughout  the  nation.  These  twelve  thousand 
persons  are  thus  fully  committed  to  the  Union,  and  to  per- 
petual freedom  in  the  States  committed  to  the  very 
things  and  nearly  all  the  things  the  nation  wants— and 
they  ask  the  nation's  recognition  and  its  assistance  to  make 
good  that  committal.  Now,  if  we  reject  and  spurn  them, 
we  do  our  utmost  to  disorganize  and  disperse  them.  We, 
in  effect,  say  to  the  white  men,  "You  are  worthless,  or 
worse,  we  will  neither  help  you,  nor  be  helped  by  you." 
To  the  blacks  we  say, "  This  cup  of  Liberty  which  these,  your 
okl  masters,  hold  to  your  lips,  we  will  dash  from  you,  and 
leave  you  to  the  chances  of  gathering  the  spilled  and  scat- 
tered contents  in  some  vague  and  undefined  when,  where 
and  how."  If  this  course,  discouraging  and  paralyzing 
both  white  and  black,  has  any  tendency  to  bring  Louisiana 
into  proper  practical  relations  with  the  Union,  I  have,  so 


380  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

far,  been  unable  to  perceive  it.  If,  on  the  contrary,  we 
recognize  and  sustain  the  new  government  of  Louisiana 
the  converse  of  all  this  is  made  true. 

We  encourage  the  hearts  and  nerve  the  arms  of  the 
twelve  thousand  to  adhere  to  their  work,  and  argue  for  it, 
and  proselyte  for  it,  and  fight  for  it,  and  feed  it,  and  grow 
it,  and  ripen  it  to  a  complete  success.  The  colored  man, 
too,  seeing  all  united  for  him,  is  inspired  with  \dgilance, 
and  energy,  and  daring  to  the  same  end.  Grant  that  he 
desires  the  elective  francliise,  will  he  not  attain  it  sooner 
by  sa^■ing  the  already  advanced  steps  towards  it,  than  by 
running  backward  over  them?  Concede  that  the  new 
government  of  Louisiana  is  only  to  what  it  should  be  as 
the  egg  is  to  the  fowl,  we  shall  sooner  have  the  fowl  by 
hatching  the  egg  than  by  smasliing  it.  [Laughter].  Again, 
if  we  reject  Louisiana,  we  also  reject  one  vote  in  favor  of 
the  proposed  amendment  to  the  National  Constitution. 
To  meet  tliis  proposition,  it  has  been  argued  that  no  more 
than  three-fourths  of  those  States,  which  have  not  at- 
tempted secession,  are  necessary  to  validly  ratify  the 
amendment.  I  do  not  commit  myself  against  this,  further 
than  to  say  that  such  aratificatioh  would  be  questionable, 
and  sure  to  be  persistently  questioned,  while  a  ratification 
by  three-fourths  of  all  the  States  would  be  miquestioned 
and  unquestionable. 

I  repeat  the  question:  "  Can  Louisiana  be  brought  into 
proper  practical  relation  with  the  Union  sooner  by  sus- 
taining or  by  discarding  her  new  State  government?" 
What  has  been  said  of  Louisiana  will  apply  generally  to 
other  States.  And  yet  so  great  peculiarities  pertain  to 
each  State,  and  such  important  and  sudden  changes  occur 
in  the  same  State,  and,  withal,  so  new  and  unprecedented 
is  the  whole  case,  that  no  exclusive  and  inflexible  plan  can 
safely  be  prescribed  as  to  details  and  collaterals.     Such 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  381 

exclusive  and  inflexible  plan  would  surely  become  a  new 
entanglement.  Important  principles  may,  and  must  be 
inflexible. 

In  the  present  situation,  as  the  phrase  goes,  it  may  be  my 
duty  to  make  some  new  announcement  to  the  people  of  the 
South.  I  am  considering  and  shall  not  fail  to  act,  when 
satisfied  that  action  will  be  proper. 

The  change  in  the  domestic  situation,  rendered  it  ex- 
pedient to  take  new  ground  in  regard  to  the  concession  of 
belligerent  rights  to  the  enemy,  made  by  certain  foreign 
powers.  The  following  proclamation— issued  at  this  time 
—speedily  accomplished  its  purpose  of  utterly  outrooting 
this  international  heresy: 

By  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America — 
A  Proclamation. 

Whereas,  for  some  time  past,  vessels  of  war  of  the 
ITnited  States  have  been  refused,  in  certain  foreign  ports, 
privileges  and  immunities  to  which  they  were  entitled  by 
treaty,  public  law  or  the  comity  of  nations,  at  the  same  time 
that  vessels  of  war  of  the  country  wherein  the  said  privi- 
leges and  immunities  have  been  withheld,  have  enjoyed 
them  fully  and  uninterruptedly  in  ports  of  the  United 
States;  which  condition  of  things  has  not  always  been 
forcibly  resisted  by  the  United  States,  although,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  have  not,  at  any  time,  failed  to  protest 
against  and  declare  their  dissatisfaction  with  the  same. 
In  the  view  of  the  United  States,  no  condition  any  longer 
exists  which  can  be  claimed  to  justify  the  denial  to  them 
by  any  one  of  such  nations,  of  customary  naval  rights, 
as  has  heretofore  been  so  unnecessarily  persisted  in. 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the 


382  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

United  States,  do  hereby  make  known  that,  if,  after  a 
reasonable  time  shall  have  elapsed  for  intelligence  of  tliis 
proclamation  to  have  reached  any  foreign  country  in  whose 
ports  the  said  privileges  and  immunities  shall  have  been 
refused,  as  aforesaid,  they  shall  continue  to  be  so  refused, 
then  and  henceforth  the  same  privileges  and  immunities 
shall  be  refused  to  the  vessels  of  war  of  that  country  in  the 
ports  of  the  United  States,  and  this  refusal  shall  continue 
until  the  war  vessels  of  the  United  States  shall  have  been 
placed  upon  an  entire  equality,  in  the  foreign  ports  afore- 
said, with  similar  vessels  of  other  countries,  the  United  States, 
whatever  claim  or  pretence  may  have  existed  heretofore, 
are  now,  at  least,  entitled  to  claim  and  concede  an  entire 
and  friendly  equality  of  rights  and  hospitalities  wth  all 
maritime  nations. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand,  and 
have  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  eleventh  day  of 
April,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  sixty-five,  and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States 
of  America  the  eighty-ninth. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

By  the  President: 

William  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 
Last  Days  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 

After  years  of  weary  toil,  Mr.  Lincoln  seemed  now  to 
be  entering  on  a  period  of  comparative  repose.  The  first 
step  liad  been  taken  for  putting  the  army  on  a  peace  footing. 
A  policy  had  been  matured  for  the  re-establishment  of 
loyal  local  governments  in  the  insurgent  States.  For- 
bearance, clemency,  charity  were  to  control  the  executive 
action  in  dealing  with  the  difficult  problems  still  awaiting 
practical  solution.  After  the  Cabinet  meeting  on  the  14th 
of  April,  the  President  was  in  unusually  buoyant  spirits. 
His  remaining  tasks  evidently  seemed  lighter  than  ever 
before.     His  gladsome  humor  was  noticed  by  his  friends. 

There  were  visitors  at  the  White  House  that  night  as 
usual,  and  it  was  somewhat  late  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
ready  to  leave.  Mrs.  Lincoln,  as  if  some  presentiment  re- 
strained her,  seemed  reluctant  to  go,  but  the  President  was 
unwilling  that  those  who  had  seen  the  announcement  shoukl 
be  totally  disappointed  by  seeing  neither  himself  nor  the 
Lieutenant-General.  Speaker  Colfax,  wiio  was  the  last 
person  received  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  walked  with  him  and  Mrs. 
Lincoln  from  the  parlor  to  the  carriage.  Mr.  Ashmun, 
who  had  nearly  five  years  presided  over  the  National  Con- 
vention, which  first  nominated  Mr.  Lincoln  for  the  Presi- 
dency, came  up  at  this  moment,  having  hoped  to  obtain 
an  interview.  After  salutations,  a  card  was  handed  to 
Mr.  Ashmun,  written  by  the  President  as  he  sat  in  his  car- 
riage, directing  the  usher  to  admit  that  gentleman  to  the 

383 


384 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


Executive  room  on  the  following  morning.  The  carriage 
drove  away,  stopping  to  take  up  two  young  friends  on  the 
way — Maj.  Rathbone  and  Miss  Harris.  It  was  not  yet 
past  nine  when  the  party  reached  the  theatre,  which  was 
densely  thronged.  As  President  Lincoln  entered  and 
passed  to  his  box  he  was  greeted  with  enthusiastic  cheering. 

Mr.  Lincoln  occupied  a  chair  on  the  side  of  the  box 
nearest  the  audience,  Mrs.  Lincoln  sitting  next  to  him. 
Their  guests  were  seated  beyond,  in  a  portion  of  the  box 
usually  separated  by  a  partition,  wliich  had  been  removed 
for  this  occasion.  Each  part  was  ordinarily  entered  by  its 
own  door,  opening  from  a  narrow  passage,  to  which,  near 
the  outer  wall,  a  door  gives  access  from  the  dress  circle. 
The  last  named  door  and  the  further  one  inside  were  closed, 
the  other,  through  which  the  whole  party  passed,  remaining 
open.  Any  intrusion  upon  this  privacy,  in  the  presence  of 
so  many  spectators,  was  hardly  to  be  thought  of  as  possible. 
Every  day  of  his  life  in  Washington,  the  President  had 
been  in  positions  far  more  inviting  to  murderous  malice 
or  Rebel  conspiracy. 

During  the  hour  that  followed  Mr.  Lincoln's  entrance 
into  the  theatre,  his  attention  seemed  to  be  unusually 
absorbed  in  the  scenes  before  him.  His  countenance  in- 
dicated an  appreciation  of  the  lively  caricature  in  which 
the  good-humored  audience  manifested  a  high  degree  of 
delight.  Yet  it  may  safely  be  affirmed  that  there  was,  in 
liis  mind,  a  strong  undercurrent  of  quite  other  thoughts  and 
emotions  tlian  those  wliich  had  to  do  with  this  mock  presen- 
tation of  human  Ufe  and  manners.  One  cannot  doubt 
knowing  his  mental  characteristics,  that  while  partly  en- 
joying tliis  hght  diversion,  his  mind  was  active  \\'ith  more 
substantial  realities,  and  actually  most  occupied  with 
these,  when  apparently  most  intent  in  observing  what 
passed  upon  the  stage. 


ADMIRAL  DAVID  D.  PORTER. 


GEN.  JOHN  A.  LOGAN. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  385 

In  the  midst  of  a  scene  of  the  third  act,  when  but  one 
actor  was  before  tlie  curtain,  the  sound  of  a  pistol-shot  was 
heard  and  a  man  leaped  from  the  President's  box  and 
disappeared  beliind  the  scenes.  So  sudden  was  all  this, 
that  only  the  screams  of  Mrs.  Lincoln,  a  moment  later, 
revealed  its  meaning.  The  President  had  been  shot.  His 
assassin  had  escaped.  One  of  the  audience  promptly 
sprang  upon  the  stage,  following  the  fugitive,  but  was  only 
in  time  to  see  him  mount  a  horse  at  the  rear  of  the  theater 
and  ride  away  at  flying  speed.  Wild  excitement  swayed 
the  audience  now  towards  the  stage,  many  leaping  over 
the  foot-lights,  and  now  towards  the  door.  Attention  was 
earnestly  directed,  on  the  next  instant,  to  the  condition  of 
Mr.  Lincoln.  He  was  found  to  be  insensible,  having  fallen 
slightly  forward,  where  he  sat.  Presently  surgeons  were 
admitted  to  the  box,  and  soon  after  it  was  discovered  that 
he  had  been  shot  in  the  back  of  the  neck,  just  beneath  the 
base  of  the  brain,  in  which  the  ball  was  still  lodged— a 
hopeless  wound.  In  a  few  minutes  more  he  was  borne 
from  the  theater  to  a  private  house  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  street. 

The  terrible  news  quickly  spread  through  the  city,  and 
the  streets  near  the  theater  were  thronged  with  distressed 
and  indignant  thousands,  anxious  for  a  word  as  to  the 
President's  condition,  that  would  give  encouragement  to 
hope — eager  to  loiow  who  was  the  author  of  this  monstrous 
crime.  Almost  simiJtaneously  came  the  intelligence  that 
Secretary  Seward,  who  had  been  lying  seriously  ill  for  many 
days  past,  had  been  brutally  stabbed  in  his  bed  by  a  ruffian 
who  had  woimded  several  others  in  making  his  escape  from 
the  house.  It  soon  became  known,  also  that  Frederick  W. 
Seward,  Assistant  Secretary  of  State,  had  been  so  wounded, 
by  the  same  hand,  that  his  recovery  was  very  doubtful. 

In  the  room  to  which  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  removed,  he 


386 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


remained,  still  breathing,  but  unconscious,  surrounded  by 
his  distracted  family — who  sometimes  retired  together  to 
an  adjoining  room — by  his  Cabinet,  by  surgeons,  and  by  a 
few  others,  until  twenty-three  minutes  past  seven  o'clock, 
on  the  morning  of  April  15th,  when  his  great  heart  ceased 
to  beat. 

Never  before  was  rejoicing  turned  into  such  sudden  and 
overwhelming  sorrow.  A  demon,  studying  how  most 
deeply  to  wound  the  greatest  number  of  hearts,  could  have 
de^^sed  no  act  for  his  purpose  like  that  which  sent  Abraham 
Lincoln  to  his  grave.  No  man's  loss  could  have  been  so 
universally  felt  as  that  of  a  father,  brother,  friend.  Many 
a  fireside  was  made  doubly  lonely  by  this  bereavement. 
"  Sadness  to  despondency  has  seized  on  all " — says  a  private 
letter  from  a  resident  of  one  of  our  largest  cities,  written 
on  the  fatal  day.  "Men  have  ceased  business,  and  work- 
men are  turning  home  with  their  dimier  buckets  unopened. 
The  merchants  are  leaving  their  counting-rooms  for  the 
privacy  of  their  dwellings.  A  gloom,  intensified  by  the 
transition  from  the  pomp  and  rejoicing  of  yesterday,  settles 
impenetrably  on  every  mind."  And  this  was  but  a  picture 
of  the  grief  everywhere  felt.  Bells  tolled  sadly  in  all  parts 
of  the  land.  Mourning  drapery  was  quickly  seen  from 
house  to  house  on  every  square  of  the  national  capital ;  and 
all  the  chief  places  of  the  coimtry  witnessed,  by  spontaneous 
demonstrations,  their  participation  in  the  general  sorrow. 
In  every  loyal  pulpit,  and  at  every  true  altar  throughout  the 
nation,  the  great  public  grief  was  the  theme  of  earnest 
prayer  and  discourse,  on  the  following  day.  One  needs 
not  to  dwell  on  what  no  pen  can  describe,  and  on  what 
no  adult  hving  on  that  day  can  ever  forget. 

During  the  night  of  Friday,  diligent  efforts  were  made  to 
discover  the  assassin,  and  to  secure  his  arrest.  It  was  early 
ascertained  that  John  Wilkes  Booth,  brother  of  Edwin 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  387 

Booth,  the  eminent  and  beloved  American  actor,  was  the 
perpetrator  of  the  crime,  and  that  he  had  probably  escaped 
across  the  East  Branch,  into  a  portion  of  Maryland  in  warm 
sympathy  with  the  rebellion.  The  circumstances  attend- 
ing the  deed  were  eagerly  inquired  into,  and  testimony  taken 
from  which  it  was  learned  that  the  assassination  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  the  attempted  murder  of  Mr.  Seward,  had 
their  source  in  a  conspiracy,  of  which  Vice-President  John- 
son was  also  an  intended  victim. 

On  the  morning  of  his  death,  Mr.  Lincoln's  remains  were 
taken  to  the  White  House,  embalmed,  and  on  Tuesday 
laid  in  state  in  the  East  Room,  where  they  were  visited  by 
many  thousands  during  the  day.  On  Wednesday,  funeral 
services  were  held  in  the  same  room.  An  impressive  dis- 
course was  preached  by  Rev.  Dr.  Gurley,  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  church,  which  the  late  President  attended; 
the  main  portion  of  the  Episcopal  service  for  the  burial  of 
the  dead  was  read  by  Rev.  Dr.  Hall  (Episcopalian),  and 
prayers  were  offered  by  Bishop  Simpson  (Methodist)  and 
Rev.  Dr.  Gray  (Baptist).  The  funeral  procession  and 
pageant,  as  the  body  was  removed  to  the  rotunda  of  the 
capitol,  were  of  grand  and  solemn  character,  beyond  de- 
scription. The  whole  length  of  the  avenue  from  the 
Executive  mansion  to  the  capitol,  was  crowded  with  the 
thousands  of  the  army,  navy,  ci\'il  officers,  and  citizens, 
marching  to  the  music  of  solemn  dirges.  From  window 
and  roof,  and  from  sidewalks  densely  crowded,  tens  of 
thousands  along  the  whole  route  witnessed  the  spectacle. 
The  remains  again  lay  in  state,  in  the  rotunda,  and  were 
visited  by  many  thousands  during  the  following  day.  On 
Friday  morning  the  remains  were  borne  to  the  rich  funeral 
car,  in  which,  accompanied  by  an  escort  of  distinguished 
officers  and  citizens,  they  were  to  be  borne  on  their  journey 
of  nearly  two  thousand  miles  to  their  last  rest  in  the  silence 


388 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


of  the  Western  prairie.  The  funeral  cortege  left  Waslung- 
ton  on  the  21st  of  April,  going  by  way  of  Baltimore  and 
Harrisburg  to  Philadelphia,  where  the  body  lay  in  state 
in  Independence  Hall,  from  Saturday  evening,  the  22d, 
until  Monday  morning.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  24th,  the 
train  reached  New  York.  All  along  the  route,  thus  far, 
the  demonstrations  of  the  people  were  of  the  most  earnest 
character,  and  at  Philadelpliia  the  ceremonies  were  impos- 
ing, profound  grief  and  sympathy  being  universally  man- 
ifested. At  New  York,  on  the  25th,  a  funeral  procession, 
unprecedented  in  numbers,  marched  through  the  streets, 
while  mottoes  and  emblems  of  woe  were  seen  on  every  hand 
— toucliing  devices,  yet  altogether  vain  to  express  the 
reality  of  the  general  sorrow.  The  train  reached  Albany 
the  same  night,  remaining  there  part  of  the  day  on  the 
26th,  wliile  the  same  overflowing  popular  manifestations 
were  wdtnessed  as  at  previous  places  along  the  route. 
These  were  continued  at  all  the  principal  points  on  the  way 
from  that  city  to  Buffalo,  where  there  were  special  dem- 
onstrations, on  the  27th,  as  again  at  Cleveland  on  the  2Sth, 
at  Columbus  on  the  29th,  and  at  Indianapolis  on  the 
30th.  Wherever  the  funeral  car  and  cortege  passed  through 
the  state  of  Oliio,  as  through  Indiana  and  Illinois,  the  peo- 
ple thronged  to  pay  their  sad  greeting  to  the  dead,  and 
tokens  of  pubHc  mourning  and  private  sadness  were  seen. 
At  Chicago,  where  the  train  arrived  on  the  1st  of  May,  the 
demonstrations  were  specially  impressive,  and  the  mourn- 
ful gatherings  of  the  people  were  such  as  could  have  hap- 
pened on  no  other  occasion.  It  was  the  honored  patriot  of 
Illinois,  who  had  been  struck  down  in  -the  midst  of  his 
glorious  work,  and  whose  lifeless  remains  were  now  brought 
back  to  the  city  which  he  had  chosen  to  be  his  future  home. 
From  Chicago  to  Springfield,  the  great  ovation  of  sorrow 
was  unparalleled,  through  all  the  distance.     The  remains 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  389 

of  the  martyred  statesman  were  passing  over  ground  fam- 
iliar to  his  siglit  for  long  years,  and  filled  with  personal 
friends  who  had  known  him  from  early  life.  Yet  even  here, 
where  all  were  deeply  moved,  there  could  scarcely  be  a 
more  heartfelt  tribute,  a  more  universal  impulse  to  render 
homage  to  the  memory  of  the  immortal  martyr  for  liberty, 
than  in  every  city  and  State  through  which  the  funeral 
car  and  its  cortege  had  passed. 

The  final  obsequies  took  place  at  Springfield,  on  Thurs- 
day, the  4th  day  of  May,  when  the  remains  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  in  the  presence  of  many  thousands,  were  placed 
in  a  vault  in  Oak  Ridge  Cemetery.  With  the  body  of  the 
late  President,  the  disinterred  remains  of  his  son  Willie, 
who  died  in  February,  1862,  had  been  borne  to  Illinois, 
and  were  now  placed  beside  those  of  the  father  by  whom 
he  had  been  so  tenderly  loved.  The  ceremonies  were  grand- 
ly impressive.  Mr.  Lincoln's  last  inaugural  address 
was  read,  the  Dead  March  in  Saul,  and  other  dirges  and 
hymns  were  sung,  accompanied  by  an  instrumental  band 
and  an  eloquent  discourse  was  preached  by  Bishop  Simp- 
son. Rev.  Dr.  Gurley,  of  Washington,  and  other  clergy- 
men, participating  in  the  religious  exercises.  Li  every 
part  of  the  nation,  the  day  was  observed,  and  business 
suspended.  Never,  probably,  was  the  memory  of  any  man 
before  so  honored  in  his  death,  or  any  obsequies  participated 
in  by  so  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  sincere  mourners. 

Large  rewards  were  speedily  offered  for  the  capture  of 
the  cliief  assassin  and  of  his  principal  known  accomplices, 
Atzerodt  and  Herold.  The  villain  who  attempted  the 
murder  of  Mr.  Seward  was  first  arrested— giving  his  name 
as  Payne.  Booth  and  his  companion  Herold  were  traced 
through  the  counties  of  Prince  George,  Charles,  and  St. 
Mary,  in  Maryland,  and  finally  across  the  Potomac  into 
King  George  and  Caroline  counties  in  Virginia.    They  had 


390  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

crossed  the  Rappahannock  at  Port  Conway,  and  had  ad- 
vanced some  distance  toward  BowUng  Green.  By  the  aid 
of  information  obtained  from  negroes,  and  from  a  Rebel 
paroled  prisoner,  they  were  finally  found  in  a  barn,  on  a 
Mr.  Garrett's  place,  early  on  the  morning  of  the  26th  of 
April,  when  HeroJd  surrendered.  Booth,  defiant  to  the 
last,  was  shot  by  Sergeant  Boston  Corbett,  of  the  cavalry 
force  in  pursuit  of  the  fugitives,  and  lived  but  a  few  hours, 
ending  his  life  in  miserable  agony.  In  leaping  from  the 
box  of  the  theater,  he  had  broken  a  bone  of  Ms  leg,  imped- 
ing his  flight  and  producing  intense  suffering  during  the 
eleven  days  of  his  wanderings.  A  swift  and  terrible  retri- 
bution had  overtaken  the  reckless  criminal — perhaps  the 
most  fitting  expiation  of  liis  deed. 

In  addition  to  the  arrests  of  Payne  and  Herold,  were 
those  of  Atzerodt,  O'Laughlin,  Spangler,  an  employee  at 
Ford's  Theater;  Dr.  Mudd,  who  harbored  Booth  the  day 
after  the  assassination,  set  the  broken  bone  of  his  leg,  and 
helped  him  on  his  way;  Arnold,  whose  letter  to  Booth, 
found  in  the  latter's  trunk,  signed  "Sam,"  showed  his 
connection  with  the  conspiracy,  and  Mrs.  Surratt,  at  whose 
house  some  of  the  conspirators  were  wont  to  meet,  and 
who  was  charged  with  aiding  the  plans  and  the  escape  of 
Booth. 

But  the  conspiracy  was  clearly  traceable  to  a  higher 
source  than  Booth  and  these  wretched  accomplices.  Mr. 
Johnson,  who  had  been  inaugurated  as  President  on  the 
morning  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  death,  issued  the  following 

Proclamation: 

Whereas.  It  appears  from  evidence  in  the  Bureau  of 
Military  Justice  that  the  atrocious  murder  of  the  late  Pres- 
ident, Abrah.'S.m  Lincoln,  and  the  attempted  assassina- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  391 

tion  of  the  Hon.  W.  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State,  were 
incited,  concerted  and  procured  by  and  between  Jefferson 
Davis,  late  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  and  Jacob  Thompson, 
Clement  C.  Clay,  Beverley  Tucker,  George  N.  Sanders, 
W.  C.  Cleary,  and  other  Rebels  and  traitors  against  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  harbored  in  Canada; 
now,  therefore,  to  the  end  that  justice  may  be  done,  I, 
Andrew  Johnson,  President  of  the  United  States,  do  offer 
and  promise  for  the  arrest  of  said  persons,  or  either  of  them, 
within  the  Hmits  of  the  United  States,  so  that  they  can  be 
brought  to  trial,  the  following  rewards:  One  hundred 
thousand  dollars  for  the  arrest  of  Jefferson  Davis;  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  for  the  arrest  of  Clement  C.  Clay; 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for  the  arrest  of  Jacob  Thomp- 
son, late  of  Mississippi;  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for 
the  arrest  of  George  N.  Sanders ;  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars  for  the  arrest  of  Beverley  Tucker,  and  ten  thousand 
dollars  for  the  arrest  of  William  C.  Cleary,  late  clerk  of 
Clement  C.  Clay. 

The  Provost-Marshal-General  of  the  United  States  is 
directed  to  cause  a  description  of  said  persons,  with  notice 
of  the  above  rewards,  to  be  published. 

In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and 
caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  the  second  day  of  May 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred 

[l.  s.]    and    sixty-five,   and    of    the    independence   of 
the  United  States  of  America  the  eighty-ninth. 

Andrew  Johnson. 
By  the  President:  W.  Hunter,  Acting  Secretary  of  State. 

A  Millitary  Commission  was  convened  to  meet  on  the  8th 
of  May  for  the  trial  of  the  parties  arrested  on  the  charge  of 
"  mahciously,  unlawfully,  and  traitorously,  and  in  aid  of  the 


392  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 

present  armed  Rebellion  against  the  United  States  of 
America,  on  or  before  the  6th  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1865, 
combining,  confederating  and  conspiring  together,  with 
one  John  H.  Surratt,  John  Wilkes  Booth,  Jefferson  Davis, 
George  N.  Sanders,  Beverley  Tucker,  Jacob  Thompson, 
William  C.  Cleary,  Clement  C.  Clay,  George  Harper,  George 
Young,  and  others  unknown,  to  kill  and  murder,  within 
the  Military  Department  of  Wasliington,  and  witliin  the 
fortified  and  intrenched  hnes  thereof,  Abraham  Lincoln, 
and  at  the  time  of  said  combining,  confederating  and  con- 
spiring. President  of  the  United  States  and  Commander- 
in-Cliief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  thereof;  Andrew  Johnson, 
then  Vice-President  of  the  United  States  aforesaid,  Wm. 
H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  aforesaid, 
and  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  Lieutenant-General  of  the  Army  of 
the  United  States  aforesaid,  then  in  command  of  the  armies 
of  the  United  States,  under  the  direction  of  the  said  Abra- 
HAJi  liiNCOLN ;  and  in  pursuance  of  and  in  prosecuting  said 
malicious,  unlawful  and  traitorous  conspiracy  aforesaid, 
and  in  aid  of  said  Rebellion,  afterward,  to--nit,  on  the  14th 
day  of  April,  1865,  within  the  Military  Department  of 
Washington,  aforesaid,  and  within  the  fortified  and  in- 
trenched Unes  of  said  l\Iilitary  Department,  together  wiih 
said  John  Wilkes  Booth  and  John  H.  Surratt,  maliciously, 
unlawfully  and  traitorously  murdermg  the  said  Abraham 
Lincoln,  then  President  of  the  United  States  and  Com- 
mander-in-Chief of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United 
States  as  aforesaid,  and  maliciously,  unlawfully  and  traitor- 
ously assaulting,  with  intent  to  kill  and  murder  the  said 
Wm.  H.  Seward,  then  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United 
States  as  aforesaid,  and  lying  in  wait  with  intent,  malic- 
iously, unlawfully  and  traitorously,  to  Idll  and  murder 
the  said  Andrew  Johnson,  then  being  Mce-President  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  said  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  then 


THE   ASSASSINATION   OF   PRESIDENT  LINCOLN. 

Ford's   Theatre,   Washington,  D.   C,   night  of  April  Uth,  1866. 


THE  ESCAPE  OF  THE  ASSASSIN  AND  THE  PANIC  OF  THE 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  393 

being  Lieutenant-General  and  in  command  of  the  Armies 
of  the  United  States  as  aforesaid." 

In  the  course  of  the  trial,  positive  evidence  was  furnished 
comiecting  Jacob  Thompson,  Jefferson  Davis,  and  their 
associates    named    above,    with    President    Lincoln's 
assassination.    This  direct  evidence  is  only  the  keystone 
of  an  arch  of  circumstances,  strong  as  adamant.     We  have 
already  seen  the  avowal,  in  the  Greeley-Sanders  peace 
correspondence,  that  several  of  these  men  were  in  Canada, 
in  the  "confidential  employment"  of  Davis.     This  em- 
ployment, after  the  failure  of  their  busy  intrigues  with 
Northern  sympathizers,  to  defeat  Mr.  Lincoln's  re-election 
and  the  liberal  waste  of  funds  in   sustaining   Northern 
Rebel  journalism,  had  taken  a  form  congenial  to  their 
"chivalrous"    instincts,  in  instigating   and  aiding  prac- 
tical   seizures    on    Lake    Erie,    robbery    at    St.  Albans, 
hotel-burning  and  wholesale  murder  at  New  York,  and  in  a 
broad-cast  cUffusion  of  pestilence  and  death  through  the 
northern  cities,  by  the  efforts  of  the  "philanthropic"  Dr. 
Blackburn,   who  labored   assiduously  in  his   purpose  of 
spreading  malignant  disease  by  means  of  infected  clothing. 
What  farther  depth  of  iniquity  needed  these  man  to  sound 
before  organizing  a  conspiracy— at  first  for  the  avowed 
purpose  of  abducting,  then  of  murdering  outright,   the 
President  whom  they  so  maliciously  hated?     That  they 
did  enter  this  scheme,  is  proved  beyond  a  doubt.     That 
Jefferson  Davis,  in  whose  "  confidential  employment "  all 
this  while  they  were,  was  consulted  as  to  the  plan  of  assas- 
sination and  gave  it  his  approval,  is  shown  by  positive 
testimony.     And  this  suits  the  temper  he  had  shown  in  his 
readiness  to  entertain   McCullough's  infamous  plan   for 
introducing  into  the  "  confidential "  service  a  combustible 
which  would  obviate  the  "  difficulties  heretofore  encount- 
ered" in  burning  hotels.     It  is  strikingly  confirmed  by 


394 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


his  language  on  hearing,  at  Charlotte,  North  Carolina, 
that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  assassinated.  Lewis  F. 
Bates,  of  that  town,  in  whose  house  Davis  was  then  staying 
gives  the  following  testimony  on  this  point,  after  stating 
that  the  latter  received  a  dispatch  from  Breckinridge  an- 
noimcing  the  assassination: 

Q.  —  Look  at  this  (exhibiting  to  witness  a  telegram)  and 
see  whether  it  is  the  same  dispatch? 
A.— I  should  say  that  it  was. 
The  dispatch  was  then  read,  as  follows: 

"Greensboro,  April  19,  1865. — His  Excellency,  Pres- 
ident Davis:  President  Lincoln  was  assassinated  in  the 
theater  in  Wasliington,  on  the  night  of  the  14th  inst. 
Seward's  house  was  entered  on  the  same  night,  and  he  was 
repeatedly  stabbed,  and  is  probably  mortally  wounded. 


(Signed,) 


John  C.  Breckinridge." 


Q.  — State  what  Jefferson  Davis  said  after  reading  this 
dispatch  to  the  crowd.  Endeavor  to  recollect  liis  precise 
language? 

>  A.  — At  the  conclusion  of  his  speech  to  the  people,  he 
read  this  dispatch  aloud,  and  made  this  remark:  "If  it 
were  to  be  done,  it  were  better  that  it  were  done  well." 

Q.— You  are  sure  these  are  the  words? 

A.— These  are  the  words. 

Q.  — State  whether  or  not,  in  a  day  or  two  afterward, 
Jefferson  Davis,  John  C.  Breckinridge,  and  others,  were 
present  in  your  house  in  Charlotte? 

A.— They  were. 

Q.— And  the  assassination  of  the  President  was  the  sub- 
ject of  conversation? 

A.— A  day  or  two  afterward  that  was  the  subject  of 
their  conversation. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  395 

Q.  — Can  you  remember  what  John  C.  Breckinridge 
said? 

A.— In  speaking  of  the  assassination  of  President 
Lincoln,  he  remarked  to  Davis  that  he  regretted  it  very 
much;  that  it  was  unfortunate  for  the  people  of  the  South 
at  that  time.  Davis  replied: ''  Well,  General,  I  don't  know; 
if  it  were  to  be  done  at  all,  it  were  better  it  were  luell  done;  and 
if  the  same  were  done  to  Andreiu  Johnson,  the  beast,  and  to 
Secretary  Stanton,  the  job  woidd  then  be  complete." 

Q.  — You  feel  confident  that  you  recollect  the  words? 

A.— These  are  the  words  used. 

The  expedient  of  assassinating  Mr.  Lincoln  had  long 
been  a  favored  one,  beyond  doubt,  with  many  of  the  South- 
ern traitors.  It  was  no  less  unlawful,  they  might  naturally 
reason,  than  levying  war  against  the  Government.  That 
it  was  less  manly,  that  it  was  infamous  in  the  eyes  of  all  na- 
tions, weighed  little  ^vith  many  who  had  so  long  brazenly 
defied  the  sentiment  of  the  civilized  world.  Mr.  Lincoln, 
during  the  canvass  of  1860,  received  letters  threatening  his 
life— in  themselves  of  no  consequence,  but  showing  how 
easily  Rebel  notions  even  then  took  such  a  direction,  and 
might  sooner  or  later  mature  into  act.  It  cannot  reason- 
ably be  doubted  that  there  was  a  definite  plan  for  assassin- 
ating Mr.  Lincoln  at  Baltimore,  in  February,  1S6L 
Northern  Copperheads  and  Southern  traitors  kept  the  pro- 
pensity aUve  by  constant  denunciations  of  the  President 
as  a  tyrant,  and  by  historic  allusions,  hightened  in  effect 
by  poetic  citations  in  praise  of  tyrannicide.  These  doctrines 
were  fostered  by  the  Copperhead  secret  orders— undoubt- 
edly in  affiliation  with  Thorripson,  Clay  and  Tucker,  and 
receiving  from  them  pecimiary  aid.  Tins  spirit  was  ram- 
pant at  the  Chicago  Democratic  National  Convention,  as 
shown  in  previous  pages,  and  during  the  subsequent  can- 


396  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

vass.  All  these  ideas  apparently  originated  in  the  South, 
and  were  propagated  from  thence.  It  was  under  such 
training  that  the  assassin  was  prepared  for  the  conception, 
and  nerved  to  the  execution  of  his  monstrous  crime. 

When  the  youthful  Colonel  Dahlgren  fell  a  victim  to 
Southern  hate,  in  Elpatrick's  unsuccessful  raid  for  the 
rescue  of  prisoners  at  Richmond,  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1864,  there  was  pretended  to  have  been  found  on  Dahlgren 's 
person  an  order  in  his  name,  directing  that  the  city  be 
destroyed,  "and  Jeff  Da^^s  and  Cabinet  killed."  This 
"  order,"  of  wliich  much  was  made  in  the  Rebel  States  and 
abroad,  has  been  satisfactorily  shown  to  be  a  forgery,  and  it 
now  but  serves  to  reveal  the  dark  under-current  in  the 
Southern  mind,  setting  in  the  direction  of  a  crime  ulti- 
mately consummated. 

There  is  positive  proof,  developed  on  the  trial  of  the  as- 
sassination conspirators,  that,  at  the  time  of  this  raid  of 
Kilpatrick,  preparations  were  made  for  a  wholesale  massacre 
of  several  thousand  Union  prisoners,  in  case  he  had  taken 
the  city,  by  means  of  mines  filled  with  gunpowder  under 
Libby  prison.  This  fact  has  been  officially  conceded  and 
justified  in  the  report  of  a  Rebel  committee,  which  has 
recently  come  to  light. 

A  lawyer  of  Alabama,  named  Gayle,  perhaps  quite 
as  respectable  as  "philanthropist"  Blackburn,  published 
a  notice  (the  authorship  and  genuineness  of  which  are 
proved),  on  the  1st  of  December,  1864,  in  the  Selnm 
Dispatch,  in  these  words: 

One  Million  Dollars  Wanted  to  Have  Peace 
BY  THE  1st  of  March.— If  the  citizens  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy  will  furnish  me  with  the  cash,  or  good  secur- 
ities, for  the  sum  of  one  miOion  dollars,  I  will  cause 
the  lives  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  William  H.  Seward  and 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  397 

Andrew  Johnson  to  be  taken  by  the  1st  of  March  next. 
Tliis  will  give  us  peace,  and  satisfy  the  world  that  cruel 
tyrants  cannot  live  in  a  "land  of  liberty."  If  tliis  is  not 
accomplished,  nothing  will  be  claimed  beyond  the  sum 
of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  in  advance,  which  is  supposed 
to  be  necessary  to  reach  and  slaughter  the  three  villains. 

I  will  give,  myself,  one  thousand  dollars  toward  this 
patriotic  purpose.  Every  one  wishing  to  contribute 
will  address  Box  X,  Cahaba,  Alabama. 

December  1,  1864. 

During  the  same  winter  there  were  intimations  in 
Southern  quarters,  and  in  sympathetic  circles  abroad,  as 
indicated  through  the  public  prints,  that  some  great 
event  was  about  to  happen,  which  would  startle  the 
world.  The  spirit  of  assassination  had  been  carefully 
nursed.  The  crime  itself  had  been  repeatedly  meditated 
and  plotted.  This  fact  was  known  to  Davis.  Men  in 
his  "confidential  emplo}mient,"  constantly  at  work, 
with  his  knowledge,  on  schemes  the  most  infamous, 
were  instigating  and  aiding  the  crime  of  Booth.  Davis 
knew  this  crime  to  be  intended,  gave  in  his  sanction, 
and  rejoiced  with,  no  regret  except  that  the  plot  was 
not  more  completely  carried  into  effect.  The  assassina- 
tion was  not  the  mere  freak  of  a  madcap  or  fanatic.  It 
was  the  natural  outgrowth  of  the  spirit  which  led  the 
Rebellion,  and  which  advanced  on  the  same  line  to  the 
vilest  works  of  desperation.  The  barbarous  oligarch 
and  upstart  autocrat  who  had  deliberately  starved  thou- 
sands of  Union  prisoners,  could  have  no  compunction 
at  seeing  a  chosen  emissary  stealthily  murder  the  ruler 
to  whose  authority  he  must  otherwise  soon  be  forced 
to  succumb. 

Never,  perhaps,  has  the  death  of  any  man  called  forth 


398  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

so  many  expressions  of  sorrow  and  respect,  or  inspired 
so  many  exalted  tributes  from  orators,  poets  and  autliors, 
as  well  as  from  the  people  of  every  class.  In  British 
America,  the  shock  seemed  almost  as  universal  as  in 
the  States.  From  all  parts  of  Great  Britain,  from  Ger- 
many, France,  Italy,  and  the  countries  beyond,  as  from 
the  diplomatic  representatives  of  all  nations  at  the  National 
Capital,  came  imaffected  utterances  of  sympathy  and 
high  recognitions  of  the  goodness  and  greatness  of 
the  departed.  Letters  of  condolence  were  addressed  to 
Mrs.  Lincoln  by  Queen  Victoria  and  the  Empress  Eugenie, 
with  their  own  hands.  Numerous  public  bodies  and 
popular  meetings — parhaments,  associations,  and  gather- 
ings of  the  people^throughout  Europe  as  well  as  this 
country,  sent  similar  tokens. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Characteristic  Stories  by  and  Concerning  Abraham 

Lincoln. 

Lincoln's    great    strength    as    a    boy. 

The  strength  Lincoln  displayed  when  he  was  ten 
years  old  is  remarkable.  At  that  age  he  was  almost 
constantly  using  an  axe  in  chopping  and  splitting  wood 
and  he  used  it  with  great  skill,  sinldng  it  deeper  into  the 
wood  than  any  other  person.  He  cut  the  elm  and  linn 
brush  used  for  feeding  the  stock,  drove  the  team,  handled 
the  old  shovel-plow,  wielded  the  sickle,  threshed  wheat 
with  a  flail,  fanned  and  cleaned  it  with  a  sheet  and  per- 
formed other  labor  that  few  men  of  to-day  could  do  so 
well.  He  wielded  the  axe  from  the  age  of  ten  till  he  was 
twenty-three.  As  he  grew  older  he  became  one  of  the 
strongest  and  most  popular  "hands"  in  the  vicinity, and 
his  services  were  in  great  demand.  He  was  employed 
as  a  "hand"  by  his  neighbors  at  25  cents  a  day,  which 
money  was  paid  to  his  father. 

was  proud  of  his  strength. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  remarkable  strong  man,  he  was 
strong  as  well  as  tall.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  measur- 
ing his  height  with  other  tall  men,— he  did  this  even  in 
the  Wliite  House.  In  1859  he  visited  the  Wisconsin 
State  Fair  at  Milwaukee  and  was  led  around  by  the  then 
Governor  Hoyt.     They  entered  a  tent  where  a  "strong 

399 


L; 


400  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

man"  was  performing  with  huge  iron  balls.  His  feats 
amazed  and  interested  Lincoln.  The  governor  told  him 
to  go  up  on  the  platform  and  be  introduced  to  the  athlete, 
by  whose  exhibition  of  skill  he  was  so  fascinated.  He 
did  so,  and  after  the  formal  introduction  he  remarked 
to  the  "strong  man,"  who  was  short  of  stature:  "Why, 
I  could  Uck  salt  off  the  top  of  your  hat." 

LINCOLN   A   POWERFUL   WRESTLER. 

While  a  clerk  in  a  general  store  at  New  Salem,  111., 
Lincoln  gained  the  reputation  of  being  a  skillful  and 
powerful  \\Testler.  Near  New  Salem  was  a  settlement 
known  as  Clary's  Grove,  in  which  lived  an  organization 
known  as  "  Clary's  Grove  Boys."  They  were  rude  in  their 
manners  and  rough  and  boastful  in  their  ways,  being 
what  would  to-day  be  called,   "a  set  of  rowdies." 

The  leader  of  this  organization,  and  the  strongest  of 
the  lot,  was  a  young  man  named  Armstrong.  It  had  been 
said  that  Lincoln  could  easily  outdo  any  one  of  the  Clary 
Grove  boys  in  anything  and  the  report  naturally  touched 
the  pride  of  the  Armstrong  youth.  He  felt  compelled 
to  prove  the  truth  or  falsity  of  such  a  story,  and  accord- 
ingly a  wrestling  match  was  arranged  between  Lincoln 
and   himself. 

It  was  a  great  day  in  the  village  of  New  Salem  and 
Clary's  Grove.  The  match  was  held  on  the  ground  in  front 
of  the  store  in  which  Lincoln  had  been  clerking.  There 
was  much  betting  on  the  result,  the  odds  being  against 
Lincoln.  Hardly,  however,  had  the  two  wrestlers  taken 
hold  of  each  other  before  the  Armstrong  youth  found  that 
he  had  "met  a  foe  worthy  his  steel."  The  two  wrestled 
long  and  hard,  each  doing  his  atmost  to  throw  the  other 
but  to  no  avail.     Both   kept  their  feet:   neither  could 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  401 

throw  the  other.  The  Armstrong  youth  being  convinced 
that  he  could  not  throw  Lincoln,  tried  a  "foul."  This 
resort  to  dishonest  means  to  gain  an  advantage  inflamed 
Lincoln  with  indignation,  and  he  immediately  caught 
young  Armstrong  by  the  throat,  held  him  at  arm's  length 
and  "shook  him  hke  a  child." 

Armstrong's  friends  rushed  to  his  rescue,  and  for  a  time 
it  seemed  as  if  Lincoln  would  be  mobbed.  But  he  held 
his  own  bravely  and  all  alone,  and  by  his  daring  excited 
the  admiration  of  ev6n  those  whose  sympathies  were  with 
young  Armstrong.  What  at  one  time  seemed  to  result 
in  a  general  fight  resulted  in  a  general  handshake,  even 
"Jack"  Armstrong  declaring  that  Lincoln  was  the  "best 
fellow  who  ever  broke  into  camp." 

LINCOLN   SPLIT   400   RAILS   FOR   A   YARD   OF   BROWN   JEANS. 

When  Lincoln  lived  in  Illinois  (New  Salem)  he  wore 
trousers  made  of  flax  and  tow  cut  tight  at  the  ankles  and 
out  at  both  knees.  Though  a  very  poor  young  man  he 
was  universally  welcomed  in  every  house  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. Money  was  so  scarce  in  those  days  that  it  is 
known  that  Lincoln  once  split  400  rails  for  every  yard 
of  brown  jeans,  dyed  with  white  walnut  bark,  that  would 
be  necessary  to  make  him  a  pair  of  trousers. 

LINCOLN  AS  A  VERSE  WRITER. 

Even  when  he  was  a  boy  Lincoln  was  sometimes  called 
upon  to  write  poetry.  The  following  are  among  his 
earliest  attempts  at  rhyme: 

Good   boys   who   to   their   books   apply. 
Will  all  be  great  men  by  and  by. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  Lincoln  himself  carried  out 


402  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

what  he  wrote  so  well;  in  other  words,  he  "practiced 
what  he  preached."  It  was  in  a  great  measure  owing  to 
liis  constant  application  to  his  books  that  he  afterward 
became  a  great  man. 

The  following  poem  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  in  1844,  while 
on  a  visit  to  the  home  of  his  claildhood: 

My    childhood's    home    I    see    again 

And   sadden    with   the    view; 
And,   still,   as   memory   crowds  my  brain. 

There's    pleasure    in    it,    too. 
Oh,    memory,    thou    midway    world 

'Twixt    earth    and    paradise. 
Where   things   decayed   and   loved   ones   lost 

In  dreamy  shadows  rise; 
And,   freed  from   all  that's  earthy,   vile. 

Seems  hallowed,  pure  and  bright, 
Like    scenes    in   some    enchanted    isle, 

And  bathed  in  liquid  light. 

Lincoln's  quick  wit  in  helping  a  girl  to  spell  a  avord. 

"Abe"  Lincoln  was  always  ready  and  willing  to  help 
anyone.  Once  he  was  in  a  spelling  match  at  school  when 
the  world  "defied"  had  been  given  out  by  the  teacher. 
It  has  been  mispelled  several  times  when  it  came  the 
turn  of  a  girl  friend  of  Lincoln's  to  spell.  The  pupils 
were  arranged  on  opposite  sides  of  the  room  and  "Abe" 
was  watching  his  friend  as  she  struggled  with  the  spelling. 
She  began  d-e-f ,  and  stopped,  being  unable  to  decide 
whether  to  proceed  with  an  i  or  a  y.  Happening  to  look 
up  she  caught  sight  of  Abe,  who  was  grinning.  He  pointed 
with  his  index  finger  to  his  eye.  The  hint  was  quickly 
understood,  the  word  was  spelled  with  an  i  and  it  went 
through  all  right. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  403 

lincoln  as  a  notion  pedler. 

In  March,  1830,  the  Lincoln  family  moved  from  Gen- 
tryville,  Indiana,  to  near  Decatur,  Illinois,  their  house- 
hold goods  being  packed  in  a  wagon  drawn  by  four  oxen 
driven  by  "Abe."  The  winter  previous  Lincoln  had 
worked  in  a  country  store  in  Gentryville  and  before  under- 
taking the  journey  he  invested  all  the  money  he  had,  some 
thirty  dollars,  in  notions,  such  as  needles,  pins,  thread, 
buttons  and  other  domestic  necessities.  These  he  sold 
to  families  along  the  route  and  made  a  profit  of  about 
one  hundred  per  cent.  Tliis  shows  he  had  a  mind  for 
seizing  hold  of  opportunities  for  making  money  even  when 
young. 

LINCOLN   SAVED   FROM    DROWNING. 

The  life  of  Lincoln  during  the  time  the  family  lived  in 
Kentucky   appears    to    have    been    entirely    uneventful. 

He  helped  his  mother — after  he  was  3  years  old — in 
the  simple  household  duties,  went  to  the  district  school, 
and  played  with  the  children  of  the  neighborhood.  The 
only  one  of  young  Lincoln's  playmates  now  living  is  an 
old  man  nearly  100  years  old  named  Austin  Gollaher, 
whose  mind  is  bright  and  clear,  and  who  never  tires  of 
telling  of  the  days  Lincoln  and  he  "were  little  tikes  and 
played  together."  This  old  man,  who  yet  lives  in  the 
log  house  in  which  he  has  always  lived,  a  few  miles  from 
the  old  Lincoln  place,  tells  entertaining  stories  about 
the  President's  boyhood. 

Mr.  Gollaher  says  that  they  were  together  more  than 
the  other  boys  in  school,  that  he  became  fond  of  his  little 
friend,  and  he  believed  that  Abe  thought  a  great  deal 
of  him. 

In  speaking  of  various  events  of  minor  importance  in 


404  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

their  boyhood  days  Mr.  Collaher  remarked :  "  I  once  saved 
Lincoln's  hfe."  Upon  being  urged  to  tell  of  the  occur- 
rence he  thus  related  it:  "We  had  been  going  to  school 
together  one  year;  but  the  next  year  we  had  no  school, 
because  there  were  so  few  scholars  to  attend,  there  being 
only  about  twenty  in  the  school  the  year  before. 

"Consequently  Abe  and  I  had  not  much  to  do;  but, 
as  we  did  not  go  to  school  and  our  mothers  were  strict 
with  us,  we  did  not  get  to  see  each  other  very  often.  One 
Sunday  morning  my  mother  waked  me  up  early,  saying 
she  was  going  to  see  Mrs.  Lincoln,  and  that  I  could  go 
along.  Glad  of  the  chance,  I  was  soon  dressed  and  ready 
to  go.  After  my  mother  and  I  got  there  Abe  and  I  played 
all  through  the  day. 

"While  we  were  wandering  up  and  down  the  little 
stream  called  Knob  Creek  Abe  said:  'Right  up  there' — 
pointing  to  the  east,  we  saw  a  covey  of  partridges  yes- 
terday. Let's  go  over  and  get  some  of  them.'  The 
stream  was  swollen  and  was  too  wide  for  us  to  jump 
across.  Finally  we  saw  a  narrow  foot-log,  and  we  con- 
cluded to  try  it.  It  was  narrow,  but  Abe  said,  'Let's 
coon  it.' 

"I  went  first  and  reached  the  other  side  all  right.  Abe 
went  about  half-way  across,  when  he  got  scared  and 
began  trembling.  I  hollered  to  him.  '  Don't  look  down 
nor  up  nor  sideways,  but  look  right  at  me  and  hold  on 
tight!'  But  he  fell  off  into  the  creek,  and,  as  the  water 
was  about  seven  or  eight  feet  deep  and  I  could  not  swim, 
and  neither  could  Abe,  I  knew  it  would  do  no  good  for  me 
to  go  in  after  him. 

"So  I  got  a  stick — a  long  water  sprout — and  held  it 
out  to  him.  He  came  up,  grabbing  with  both  hands, 
and  I  put  the  stick  into  his  hands.  He  clung  to  it,  and  I 
pulled  him  out   on  the  bank,   almost  dead.     I  got  him 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  405 

by  the  arms  and  shook  him  well,  and  then  rolled  him 
on  the  ground,  when  the  water  poured  out  of  his  mouth. 
"  He  was  all  right  very  soon.  We  promised  each  other 
that  we  would  never  tell  anybody  about  it,  and  never 
did  for  years.  I  never  told  any  one  of  it  until  after  Lincoln 
was  killed." 

Lincoln's  youthful  eloquence. 

One  man  in  Gentryville,  Ind.,  a  Mr.  Jones,  the  store- 
keeper, took  a  Louisville  paper,  and  here  Lincoln  went 
regularly  to  read  and  discuss  its  contents.  All  the  men 
and  boys  of  the  neighborhood  gathered  there,  and  every- 
thing which  the  paper  related  was  subjected  to  their 
keen,  shrewd  common  sense.  It  was  not  long  before 
young  Lincoln  became  the  favorite  member  of  the  group 
and  the  one  listened  to  most  eagerly.  Politics  was  warmly 
discussed  by  these  Gentryville  citizens,  and  it  may  be 
that  sitting  on  the  counter  of  Jones'  grocery  Lincoln  even 
discussed  slavery.  It  certainly  was  one  of  the  live  questions 
of  Indiana  at  that  date. 

Young  Lincoln  was  not  only  winning  in  those  days  in 
the  Jones  grocery  store  a  reputation  as  a  debater  and 
story  teller,  but  he  was  becoming  known  as  a  kind  of 
backwoods  orator.  He  could  repeat  with  effect  all  the 
poems  and  speeches  in  his  various  school  readers,  he  could 
imitate  to  perfection  the  wandering  preachers  who  came 
to  Gentryville,  and  he  could  make  a  political  speech  so 
stirring  that  he  drew  a  crowd  about  him  every  time  he 
mounted  a  stump.  The  applause  he  won  was  sweet,  and 
frequently  he  indulged  his  gifts  when  he  ought  to  have 
been  at  work — so  thought  his  employers  and  Thomas, 
his  father.  It  was  trying,  no  doubt,  to  the  hard  pushed 
farmers  to  see  the  men  who  ought  to  have  been  cutting 


406  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

grass  or  chopping  wood  throw  down  their  sickles  or  axes 
to  group  around  a  boy  whenever  he  mounted  a  stump  to 
develop  a  pet  theor}'  or  repeat  with  variations  yesterday's 
sermon.  In  liis  fondness  for  speech-making  he  attended 
all  the  trials  of  the  neighborhood  and  frequently  walked  15 
miles  to  Booneville  to  attend  court. 

ONE  OF  Lincoln's  songs. 

As  will  be  learned  elsewhere  in  this  book,  Annie  Rutledge 
was  Lincoln's  first  love.  Mrs.  William  Prewitt,  of  Fair- 
field, Iowa,  is  a  sister  of  Annie  Rutledge.  She  is  a  widow 
in  comfortable  circumstances  and  lives  with  one  of  her 
sons.  This  is  what  she  says  of  her  dead  sister  and  Lincoln: 

"  Her  death  made  a  great  impression  upon  him  I  could 
see.  We  never  knew  him  to  be  jolly  or  laugh  afterward. 
Annie  was  next  to  the  oldest  girl  in  our  family,  and  she  had 
a  great  deal  of  the  housework  to  do.  I  remember  seeing 
her  washing  in  the  old  fashioned  way.  She  would  sweep 
and  bake,  and  was  a  good  cook,  and  took  pride  in  her  house- 
work. She  and  Abe  were  very  jolly  together  sometimes. 
They  used  to  sing  together.  There  was  one  song  I  didn't 
like  to  hear,  and  he  would  sing  it  to  tease  me.  He  would 
tip  back  his  chair  and  roar  it  out  at  the  top  of  his  voice 
over  and  over  again,  just  for  fun.  I  have  the  book  they 
used  to  sing  out  of  yet  with  that  song  in  it." 

The  book  is  an  old-fashioned  "Missouri  Harmony," 
and  the  song  is  as  follows: 

When  in  death  I  shall  calmly  recline, 
0,  bear  my  heart  to  my  mistress  dear: 

Tell  her  it  lived  on  smiles  and  wine 

Of  brightest  hue  while  it  lingered  here; 

Bid  her  not  shed  one  tear  of  sorrow 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  407 

To  sully  a  heart  so  brilliant  and  bright, 
But  healing  drops  of  the  red  grape  borrow 
To  bathe  the  reUck  from  morn  till  night. 

When  informed  that  the  song  was  a  queer  one  to  sing  for 
fun,  Mrs.  Prewitt  replied  that  "  it  is  a  queer  song  anyhow." 

Lincoln's  first  political  speech. 

A  citizen  of  Buffalo  has  found  among  his  papers  an  ac- 
count of  the  circumstances  under  which  Abraham  Lincoln 
made  his  maiden  speech.  It  was  originally  printed  in  the 
Springfield  (111.)  Republican,  and  is  as  follows: 

"The  President  of  the  United  States  made  his  maiden 
speech  in  Sangamon  County,  at  Pappsville  (or  Richland), 
in  the  year  1832.  He  was  then  a  Whig  and  a  candidate  for 
the  Legislature  of  this  State.  The  speech  is  sharp  and 
sensible.  To  understand  why  it  was  so  short  the  following 
facts  will  show:  1.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  young  man  of  2.3 
years  of  age  and  timid.  2.  His  friends  and  opponents  in 
the  joint  discussion  had  rolled  the  sun  nearly  down.  Lincoln 
saw  it  was  not  then  the  proper  time  to  discuss  the  question 
fully,  and  hence  he  cut  his  remarks  short.  Probably  the 
other  candidates  had  exhausted  the  subjects  under  dis- 
cussion. The  time,  according  to  W.  H.  Herndon's  in- 
formant—who has  kindly  furnished  this  valuable  remi- 
niscence for  us— was  1832;  it  may  have  been  1831.  The 
President  lived  at  the  time  with  James  A.  Herndon,  at 
Salem,  Sangamon  County,  who  heard  the  speech,  talked 
about  it,  and  knows  the  report  to  be  correct.  The  speech, 
which  was  characteristic  of  the  man,  was  as  follows: 

'"Gentlemen,  Fellow-Citizens:  I  presume  you  all  know 
who  I  am.  I  am  humble  Abraham  Lincoln.  I  have  been 
solicited  by  my  friends  to  become  a  candidate  for  the 
Legislature.     My  politics  are  short  and  sweet,   like   an 


408  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

"old  woman's  dance."  I  am  in  favor  of  a  national  bank. 
I  am  in  favor  of  the  international  improvement  system 
and  a  high  protective  tariff.  These  are  my  sentiments 
and  political  principles.  If  elected,  I  will  be  thankful.  If 
defeated,  it  will  be  all  the  same. ' " 

HOW  LINCOLN  BECAME  KNOWN  AS  "HONEST  ABE." 

As  a  grocery  clerk  at  New  Salem,  Lincoln  was  scrupu- 
lously honest.  This  trait  of  his  soon  became  known,  but 
the  two  following  incidents  are  particularly  responsible 
for  the  appellation  of  "Honest  Abe,"  given  him  and  by 
which  he  has  been  so  familiarly  known.  He  once  took 
six  and  a  quarter  cents  too  much  from  a  customer.  He 
did  not  say  to  himself  "never  mind  such  little  things," 
but  walked  three  miles  that  evening,  after  closing  his 
store,  to  return  the  money.  On  another  occasion  he 
weighed  out  half  a  pound  of  tea,  as  he  supposed,  it  being 
night  when  he  did  so,  and  that  having  been  the  last  thing 
he  sold  in  the  store  before  going  home.  On  entering  in 
the  morning  he  discovered  a  four-ounce  weight  on  the 
scales.  He  saw  liis  mistake,  and  shutting  up  shop,  hurried 
off  to  deliver  the  remainder  of  the  tea.  These  acts  of 
his,  as  well  as  his  thorough  honesty  in  other  respects,  soon 
gained  for  him  the  now  famous  title  of  "Honest  Abe." 

LINCOLN    WAS    AN    "OBLIGING"    MAN. 

Lincoln  was  always  ready  to  help  any  man,  woman, 
child  or  animal.  He  was  naturally  kind  hearted,  and 
"possessed  in  an  extraordinary  degree  the  power  of  en- 
tering into  the  interests  of  others,  a  power  found  only  in 
reflective,  unselfish  natures."  He  loved  his  friends  and 
sympathized  with  them  in  their  troubles.     He  was  anxious 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  409 

always  to  do  liis  share  in  making  their  labors  day  after  day 
as  light  as  possible. 

Thus  we  are  told  by  his  neighbors  (biography  by  Mr. 
Herndon  and  others)  that  he  cared  for  the  children  while 
on  a  \'isit  to  a  friend's  house;  gave  up  his  own  bed  in  the 
tavern,  where  he  was  boarding,  when  the  house  was  full, 
and  slept  on  the  counter;  helped  farmers  pull  out  the  wheel 
of  their  wagon  when  it  got  stuck  in  the  mud;  chopped 
wood  for  the  widows ;  rocked  the  cradle  while  the  woman  of 
the  house,  where  he  was  staying,  was  busygetting  the  meal, 
and  otherwise  made  himself  useful.  No  wonder  there 
was  not  a  housewife  in  all  New  Salem  who  would  not  gladly 
"put  on  a  plate"  for  Abe  Lincoln,  or  who  would  not  darn 
or  mend  for  him  whenever  he  needed  such  services.  It 
was  the  "spontaneous,  unobtrusive  helpfulness  of  the 
man's  nature  which  endeared  him  to  everybody." 

I  HOW   LINCOLN   PAID   A   LARGE    DEBT. 

Mr.  Lincoln  went  into  partnership  in  the  grocery  busi- 
ness in  New  Salem,  111.,  with  a  man  named  Berry.  This 
man  Berry  mismanaged  the  business  while  Lincoln  was 
away  surveying.  Eventually  he  died,  leaving  Lincoln 
to  pay  a  debt  of  eleven  hundred  dollars  contracted  by  the 
firm.  In  those  days  it  was  the  fashion  for  business  men 
who  had  failed  to  "clear  out,"  that  is,  skip  the  town  and 
settle  elsewhere.  Not  so  with  "Abe."  He  quietly  set- 
tled down  among  the  men  he  owed  and  promised  to  pay 
them.  He  asked  only  time.  For  several  years  he  worked 
to  pay  off  this  debt,  a  load  which  he  cheerfully  and  man- 
fully bore.  He  habitually  spoke  of  it  to  his  friends  as  the 
"national  debt,"  it  was  so  heavy.  As  late  as  1848,  when 
he  was  a  member  of  Congress,  he  sent  home  a  part  of  his 
salary  to  be  applied  on  these  obligations.     All  the  notes. 


410  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

with  the  high  interest  rates  then  prevaihng,  were  finally 
paid. 

HIS  FIRST  SIGHT  OF  SLAVERY. 

In  May,  1831,  Lincoln  and  a  few  companions  went  to 
New  Orleans  on  a  flatboat  and  remained  there  a  montli. 
It  was  there  that  he  witnessed  for  the  first  time  negro 
men  and  women  sold  like  animals.  The  poor  beings  were 
chained,  wliipped  and  scourged.  "Against  this  inhu- 
manity his  sense  of  right  and  justice  rebelled,  and  his 
mind  and  conscience  were  awakened  to  a  realization  of 
what  he  had  often  heard  and  read,"  writes  one  of  his 
biographers,  Ida  M.  Tarbell.  One  morning  in  his  ram- 
bles with  liis  friends  over  the  city,  he  passed  a  slave  auction. 
A  comely  mulatto  girl  of  vigorous  physique  was  being 
sold.  She  underwent  a  thorough  examination  at  the 
hands  of  the  bidders;  they  pinched  her  flesh,  and  made  her 
trot  up  and  down  the  room  hke  a  horse  to  show  how  she 
moved,  and  in  order,  as  the  auctioneer  said,  that  "bidders 
might  satisfy  themselves"  whether  the  article  they  were 
offering  to  buy  was  sound  or  not.  "The  whole  thing  was 
so  revolting  that  Lincoln  moved  away  from  the  scene  with 
a  deep  feeling  of  unconquerable  hate."  He  remarked 
to  his  companions:  "  If  I  ever  get  a  chance  to  hit  that  thing 
(slavery),  I'll  hit  it  hard." 

LINCOLN  AND   DAVIS  IN  THE   BLACK  HAWK   WAR. 

Abraham  Lincoln  had  a  very  brief  experience  with  actual 
warfare.  He  enlisted  with  a  company  of  volunteers  to 
take  part  in  the  Black  Hawk  war.  It  was  the  custom  in 
those  days  for  each  company  to  elect  its  own  Captain, 
and  Lincoln  was  chosen  Captain  of  his  company  almost 
unanimously.     He  was  heard  to  say  many  times  in  after 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  411 

life  that  no  other  success  in  liis  life  had  given  him  such 
pleasure  as  did  this  one.  His  command  did  little,  as  they 
were  never  engaged  in  a  pitched  battle,  so  Lincoln  had  to 
be  content  "  with  the  reputation  of  being  the  best  comrade 
and  story-teller  in  the  camp."  It  is  a  peculiar  coincidence 
that  Jefferson  Davis  also  served  as  an  officer  in  this  war. 

Lincoln's   glowing   tribute   to   his   mother. 

These  famous  words  originated  with  the  good  and  lowly 
Abraham  Lincoln: 

"  All  that  I  am  or  hope  to  be,  I  owe  to  my  angel  mother." 

His  affection  for  his  mother  was  very  strong,  and  long 
after  her  death  he  would  speak  of  her  affectionately  and 
tearfully.  She  was  a  woman  five  fee't  five  inches  in  height, 
slender  of  figure,  pale  of  complexion,  sad  of  expression, 
and  of  a  sensitive  nature.  Of  a  heroic  nature,  she  yet 
shrank  from  the  rude  life  around  her.  About  two  years 
after  her  removal  from  Kentucky  to  Indiana  she  died. 
"Abe"  was  then  ten  years  old.  She  was  buried  under  a 
tree  near  the  cabin  home,  where  little  "Abe"  would  often 
betake  himself  and,  sitting  on  her  lonely  grave,  weep 
over  liis  irreparable  loss. 

Lincoln's  mother  was  buried  in  a  green  pine  box  made 
by  his  father.  Although  a  boy  of  ten  years  at  that  time, 
it  was  through  his  efforts  that  a  parson  came  all  the  way 
from  Kentucky  to  Indiana  three  months  later  to  preach 
the  sermon  and  conduct  the  service.  The  child  could  not 
rest  in  peace  till  due  honor  had  been  done  his  dead  mother. 

WHAT  Lincoln's  step-mother  said  of  him. 

"  Abe  was  a  good  boy,  and  I  can  say  what  scarcely  one 
woman — a  mother — can  say  in  a  thousand:  Abe  never 
gave  me  a  cross  word  or  look,  and  never  refused,  in  fact 


412  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

or  appearance,  to  do  anything  I  requested  him.    I  never 

gave  him  a  cross  word  in  all  my  life His 

mind  and  mine — what  little  I  had— seemed  to  run  together. 
He  was  here  after  he  was  elected  President.  He  was  a 
dutiful  son  to  me  always.  I  think  he  loved  me  truly. 
I  had  a  son,  Jolm,  who  was  raised  with  Abe.  Both  were 
good  boys;  but  I  must  say,  both  now  being  dead,  that 
Abe  was  the  best  boy  I  ever  saw,  or  expect  to  see." — 
Ida  M.  TarbeU. 

Lincoln's  first  love. 

Lincoln's  first  love  was  Anna  Rutledge,  of  New  Salem, 
whose  father  was  keeper  of  the  Rutledge  tavern  where 
"Abe"  boarded.  The  girl  had  been  engaged  to  a  young 
man  named  John  McNeill,  whom,  we  are  informed,  the 
village  community  pronounced  an  adventurer  and  a  man 
unworthy  the  girl's  love.  He  left  for  the  east,  promising, 
however,  to  return  within  a  year  and  claim  her  as  his  wife, 
so  the  story  reads.  According  to  Mrs.  William  Premtt,  a 
sister  of  Aima  Rutledge,  who  is  at  present  (1898)  living, 
the  engagement  was  broken  off  before  McNeill  went  away, 
so  that  she  was  free  to  receive  the  attentions  of  "Abe" 
Lincoln.  She  finally  promised  to  become  his  mfe  in  the 
spring  of  18.35,  soon  after  his  return  from  VandaUa.  But, 
unfortunately,  circumstances  did  not  permit  of  a  marriage 
then,  Lincoln  being  barely  able  to  support  himself,  not  yet 
having  been  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  the  girl,  being  but 
seventeen  years  old.  It  was  agreed  that  she  should  attend 
an  academy  at  Jacksonville,  III,  and  Lincoln  would  devote 
himself  to  liis  law  studies  till  the  next  spring,  when  he 
would  be  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  then  they  would  be 
married. 

New  Salem  was  deeply  interested  in  the  young  lovers 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  413 

and  prophesied  a  happy  life  for  them;  but  fate  willed  it 
otherwise.  Anna  Rutledge  became  seriously  ill,  with  an 
attack  of  brain  fever,  and  when  it  was  seen  that  her  recov- 
ery was  impossible  Lincoln,  her  lover,  was  sent  for.  They 
"passed  an  hour  alone  in  an  anguished  parting,"  and  soon 
after  (August  25,  1835,)  Anna  died. 

The  death  of  his  sweetheart  was  a  terrible  blow  to 
Lincoln.  His  melancholy  increased  and  darkened  his 
mind  and  his  imagination,  and  tortured  him  with  its  black 
picture.  One  stormy  night  he  was  sitting  beside  a  friend 
of  liis,  with  his  head  bowed  on  his  hand,  wliile  tears  trickled 
through  his  fingers.  His  friend  begged  liim  to  try  to 
control  his  sorrow;  to  try  to  forget  it.  Lincoln  replied: 
"I  cannot;  the  thought  of  the  snow  and  rain  on  7\jin's 
grave  fills  me  with  indescribable  grief."  For  many  days 
Lincoln  journeyed  on  foot  to  the  cemetery  where  Anna 
Rutledge  lay  buried,  and  there  alone,  in  the  "  city  of  the 
dead,"  wept  for  the  girl  whom  he  had  loved  so  well.  Many 
years  afterward,  when  he  had  married  and  become  great, 
he  said  to  a  friend  who  questioned  him:  "  I  really  and  truly 
loved  the  girl  and  think  often  of  her  now."  After  a  pause 
he  added ; ' '  And  I  have  loved  the  name  of  Rutledge  to  this 
day." 

THE  DUEL  LINCOLN   DIDN'T   FIGHT. 

President  Abraham  Lincoln  and  General  Joe  Shields, 
who  married  sisters,  once  arranged  to  fight  a  duel  at  Alton, 
111.  It  is  remembered  yet  by  the  old  settlers.  Shields 
had  offended  a  yomig  lad}^  at  Springfield,  and  she  got  even 
by  sending  an  article  about  it  to  a  Springfield  paper, 
signing  a  nom  de  plume.  The  next  day  General  Shields 
called  upon  the  editor  and  gave  liim  24  hours  within  which 
to  divulge  the  name  of  the  author  or  to  take  the  conse- 
quences.  The  editor,  who  was  a  friend  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 


414  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

called  upon  him  and  asked  what  to  do.  Not  thinking 
It  was  a  very  serious  affair,  Lincoln  promptly  said,  "Tell 
him  that  I  wrote  it  "  The  editor  did  so,  and  Shields 
challenged  Lincoln  to  a  duel,  the  latter  accepting  and 
choosing  broadswords  as  the  weapons  and  an  island  op- 
posite Alton  as  the  place.  The  principals  and  seconds 
went  to  the  place  appointed,  when  a  chance  remark  of 
Lincoln  that  he  hated  to  have  to  kill  Shields  because  he 
caused  him  to  believe  that  he  wrote  the  article  in  order  to 
protect  a  lady,  brought  about  a  reconciliation,  and  the 
duel  failed  to  come  off.  Hundreds  of  people  were  on  the 
bank  of  the  river,  and  to  carry  out  a  joke  a  log  was  dressed 
up  placed  in  a  skiff,  the  occupants  fanning  it  with  their 
hats  as  though  it  was  an  injured  man,  and  the  excitement 
was  intense.  It  always  remained  a  sore  spot  with  Lincoln, 
and  but  httle  was  ever  said  about  it. 

LINCOLN  AS  A  DANCER. 

Lincoln  made  his  first  appearance  in  society  when  he 
was  sent  first  to  Springfield,  111.,  as  a  member  of  the  State 
Legislature.  It  was  not  an  imposing  figure  which  he  cut 
in  a  ballroom,  but  still  he  was  occasionally  to  be  found 
there.  Miss  Mary  Todd,  who  afterwards  became  liis  wife, 
was  the  magnet  which  drew  the  tall,  awkward  young  man 
from  his  den.  One  evening  Lincoln  approached  Miss  Todd 
and  said,  in  his  peculiar  idiom: 

"Miss  Todd,  I  should  like  to  dance  with  you  the  worst 
way." 

The  young  woman  accepted  the  inevitable  and  hobbled 
around  the  room  with  liim.  When  she  returned  to  her 
seat,  one  of  her  companions  asked  mischievously: 

"Well,  Mary,  did  he  dance  with  you  the  worst  way?" 

"Yes,"  she  answered,  "the  very  worst." 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  415 

Lincoln's  courtship  and  marriage. 

In  1839  Miss  Mary  Todd,  of  Kentucky,  arrived  in  Spring- 
field to  visit  a  married  sister,  Mrs.  Edwards.  At  the  in- 
stance of  his  friend.  Speed,  who  was  also  a  Kentuckian, 
Lincoln  became  a  visitor  at  the  Edwards',  and  before  long 
it  was  apparent  to  the  observant  among  those  in  Spring- 
field that  the  lively  young  lady  held  him  captive.  En- 
gagements at  that  time  and  in  that  neighborhood  were 
not  announced  as  soon  as  they  were  made,  and  it  is  not  at 
all  impossible  that  Miss  Todtl  and  Mr.  Lincoln  were  be- 
trothed many  months  before  any  other  than  Mrs.  Edwards 
and  Mr.  Speed  knew  of  it. 

At  this  time,  as  was  the  case  till  Lincoln  was  elected  to 
the  Presidency,  his  one  special  rival  in  Illinois  was  Stephen 
A.  Douglas.  Mr.  Douglas  had  more  of  the  social  graces 
than  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  it  appeared  to  him  that  nothing 
would  be  more  interesting  than  to  cut  out  his  political 
rival  in  the  affections  of  the  entertaining  and  lively  Miss 
Todd,  and  so  he  paid  her  court. 

A  spirited  young  lady  from  Kentucky  at  that  time  in 
Illinois  would  have  been  almost  less  than  human  if  she  had 
refused  to  accept  the  attentions  of  the  two  leading  men  of 
the  locality.  Therefore  Miss  Todd,  being  quite  human,  en- 
couraged Douglas,  and  again  there  was  what  nowadays 
would  have  been  called  a  flirtation.  This  course  of  action 
did  not  spur  Lincoln  on  in  his  devotion,  but  made  him  less 
ardent  and  he  concluded,  after  much  self  worriment,  to 
break  off  the  engagement,  which  he  did,  but  at  the  same 
interview  there  was  a  reconciliation  and  a  renewal  of  the 
engagement. 

Lincoln's  marriage  to  Mary  Todd  occurred  in  Springfield, 
111.,  at  the  home  of  Mr.  M.  W.  Edwards,  where  Miss  Todd 
lived.     She  was  the  belle  of  Springfield.     The  marriage 


416  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

although  hastily  arranged  in  the  end,  was  perhaps  the  first 
one  performed  in  that  city  with  all  the  requirements  of  the 
Episcopal  ceremony.  Rev.  Charles  Dresser  officiated. 
Among  the  many  friends  of  Lincoln  who  were  present  was 
Thomas  C.  Brown,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  State  Supreme 
Court.     He  was  a  blunt,  outspoken  man  and  an  old  timer. 

Parson  Dresser  was  attired  in  full  canonical  robes  and 
recited  the  service  with  much  impressive  solemnity.  He 
handed  Lincoln  the  ring,  who,  placing  it  on  the  bride's 
finger,  repeated  the  church  formula,  "With  this  ring  I 
thee  endow  with  all  my  goods  and  chattels,  lands  and 
tenements." 

Judge  Bro-wTi,  who  had  never  before  witnessed  such  a 
ceremony,  and  looked  upon  it  as  utterly  absurd,  ejaculated, 
in  a  tone  loud  enough  to  be  heard  by  all,  "  God  Almighty, 
Lincoln,  the  statutes  fixes  all  that!"  This  unexpected 
interruption  almost  upset  the  old  parson,  who  had  a  keen 
sense  of  the  ridiculous,  but  he  quickly  recovered  his  gravity 
and  hastily  pronounced  the  couple  man  and  wife. 

Lincoln's  personal  appearance. 

That  Lincoln  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  personal  ap- 
pearance is  well  known.  He  measured  six  feet  four  inches, 
and  as  most  men  are  below  six  feet,  it  will  be  seen  that  he 
was  considerably  taller  than  the  average.  He  possessed 
great  strength,  both  bodily  and  mental,  and  had  a  super- 
abundance of  patience,  which  he  displayed  constantly, 
and  treated  even  those  who  differed  with  him  with  respect 
and  kindness.  One  who  had  sustained  close  relations  with 
Lincoln  and  knew  him  intimately,  the  late  Charles  A.  Dana, 
in  liis  Reminiscences  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  published  in 
McClure's  Magazine,  thus  describes  him: 

"  Mr.  Lincoln's  face  was  thin,  and  his  features  were  large. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  417 

He  had  black  hair,  heavy  eyebrows,  and  a  square  and  well 
developed  forehead.  His  complexion  was  dark  and  quite 
sallow.  He  had  a  smile  that  was  most  lovely,  surpassing 
even  a  woman's  smile  in  its  engaging  quality.  When  pleased 
his  face  would  light  up  very  pleasantly.  Some  have  said 
he  was  awkward  in  his  step.  The  word  'awkward '  hardly 
fits,  because  there  was  such  a  charm  and  beauty  about  his 
expression,  such  good  humor  and  friendly  spirit  looking 
from  his  eyes,  that  one  looking  at  him  never  thought 
whether  he  was  awkward  or  graceful.  His  whole  person- 
ality at  once  caused  you  to  think, '  What  a  kindly  character 
this  man  has!'  Always  dignified  in  manner,  he  was  be- 
nevolent a;nd  benignant,  always  wishing  to  do  somebody 
some  good  if  he  could.  He  was  all  solid,  hard,  keen  intel- 
ligence combined  with  goodness." 

Lincoln's  mother. 

Not  long  before  his  tragic  death,  Mr.  Lincoln  said:  "All 
that  I  am,  and  all  that  I  hope  to  be,  I  owe  to  my  mother." 
That  mother  died  when  little  Abe  was  nine  years  of  age. 
But  she  had  already  woven  the  texture  of  her  deepest 
character  into  the  habits  and  purposes  of  her  boy.  Her 
own  origin  had  been  humble.  But  there  were  certain 
elements  in  her  character  that  prepared  her  for  grand 
motherhood.  When  Nancy  Hanks,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
three,  gave  her  heart  and  hand  to  Thomas  Lincoln,  she 
was  a  yoimg  woman  of  large  trustfulness,  of  loving,  un- 
selfish disposition,  of  profoimd  faith  in  Divine  Providence, 
of  unswerving  Christian  profession. 

On  the  day  of  their  marriage  Thomas  Lincoln  took  this 
young  wife  to  his  unfinished  cabin,  which  had  as  yet  neither 
door,  floor,  nor  window.  The  yovmg  man  was  a  shiftless 
Kentucky  hunter,  who  could  not  read  a  word.     He  was 


418  Life  of  Abrail\m  Lincoln. 

handy  witli  his  few  carpenter  tools,  but  had  received  no 
encouragement  to  keep  at  work.  His  happy,  trusting 
mfe  assisted  him  to  finish  the  cabin.  He  mortared  the 
chinks  with  mud  which  they  together  had  mixed.  Her 
hope  and  song  made  the  work  of  the  day  his  happy  em- 
ploy. In  the  evening  she  taught  liim  to  read,  spelling  the 
words  out  of  her  Bible  as  the  text  book,  which  served  her 
double  purpose. 

From  that  day  Thomas  Lincoln  was  a  new  man.  It  was 
this  conscientious  wiie  that  inspired  him  to  move  across 
the  Ohio  into  the  free  state  of  Indiana.  Here  Lincoln 
soon  became  a  justice  of  the  peace.  When  this  wife  died, 
only  twelve  years  after  their  marriage,  Thomas  Lincoln 
had  been  transformed  from  the  shiftless  hunter,  who  could 
not  read,  into  an  intelligent  farmer  of  the  largest  influence 
of  any  man  in  his  towiiship.  Little  Abe  had  been  taught 
to  read  out  of  that  same  Bible,  and  had  read  out  of  that 
mother's  eyes  and  voice  her  large  trust  in  the  overshadow- 
ing Pro\^dence  and  her  unswer\dng  honesty  in  doing  the 
right.  It  was  tliis  woman  that  put  into  liis  hands  the  fine 
books — the  Bible,  Pilgrim's  Progress,  jEsop's  Fables, 
Robmson  Crusoe,  and  Weems's  Life  of  Washington. 

Such  was  the  mother  that  started  Abraham  Lincoln. 
"Widow  Johnston,"  who  became  his  stepmother,  was  a 
good  woman,  with  whom  he  always  maintained  the  kindest 
relations.  She  deserved  the  honorable  mention  she  re- 
ceived. 

Lincoln's  melancholia. 

A  friend  of  Lincoln  WTites:  Lincoln's  periods  of  melan- 
choly are  proverbial.  On  one  occasion,  while  in  court,  in 
1855,  Maj.  H.  C.  Whitney  describes  him  as  "sitting  alone 
in  one  corner  of  the  room,  remote  from  any  one  else, wrapped 


Life  of  Abuaham  Lincoln.  419 

ill  abstraction  and  gloom.  It  was  a  sad  but  interesting 
study  for  me,  and  I  watched  him  for  some  time.  It  ap- 
peared as  if  he  were  pursuing  in  his  mind  some  sad  subjects 
through  various  sinuosities,  and  his  face  would  assume  at 
times  the  deepest  phases  of  seeming  pain,  but  no  relief  came 
from  tliis  dark  and  despairing  melancholy  till  he  was  roused 
by  the  breaking  up  of  court,  when  he  emerged  from  his 
cave  of  gloom  and  came  back,  like  one  awakened  from 
sleep  to  the  world  in  which  he  lived  again."  As  early  as 
1837  Robert  L.  AVilson,  who  was  his  colleague  in  the 
Legislature,  testifies  that  Lincoln  admitted  to  him  that, 
although  he  appeared  to  enjoy  life  rapturously,  still  he  was 
the  victim  of  extreme  melancholy,  and  that  he  was  so 
overcome  at  times  by  depression  of  spirits  that  he  never 
dared  carry  a  pocket  knife. 

To  physicians  he  was  something  of  a  physiological  puzzle. 
John  T.  Stuart  insisted  that  his  digestion  was  organically 
defective,  so  that  the  pores  of  his  skin  often  times  performed 
the  functions  of  the  bowels;  that  his  liver  operated  abnor- 
mally and  failed  to  secrete  bile,  and  that  these  things  them- 
selves were  sufficient  in  his  opinion  to  produce  the  deepest 
mental  depression  and  melancholy. 

Lincoln's  law  partner,  Mr.  Herndon,  attributed  Lincoln's 
melancholy  to  the  death  of  Anna  Rutledge,  beheving  that 
his  grief  at  her  untimely  death  was  so  intense  that  it  cast 
a  perpetual  shadow  over  his  mental  horizon.  Another 
believed  that  it  arose  from  his  domestic  environments; 
that  his  family  relations  were  far  from  pleasant,  and  that 
that  unhappy  feature  of  his  life  was  a  constant  menace  to  his 
peace  and  perfect  equipoise  of  spirits.  "  Although  married," 
says  one,  "he  was  not  mated,  so  that  if  we  see  him  come 
into  lus  office  in  the  morning  eating  cheese  and  bologna 
sausages  philosophically,  what  can  we  expect  but  some 
periods  of  sadness  and  gloom?    Emerson,  who  you  and  I 


420  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

hold  in  high  esteem,  had  pie  for  breakfast  all  his  married 
life,  and  in  my  opinion  that  is  what  clouded  his  memory 
the  rest  of  his  life  after  seventy  years  of  age." 

Lincoln's   height. 

Emma  Gurley  Adams  in  the  New  York  Press. 

Sir:— The  admirable  speech  of  the  Hon.  Thomas  B. 
Reed  in  your  paper  of  Feb.  9,  contains  one  error  which  I 
would  like  to  correct.  Mr.  Reed  says  Mr.  Lincoln  was  six 
feet  four  inches  in  height.  Mr.  Lincoln  told  my  father 
that  he  was  exactly  six  feet  three  inches  only  a  short  time 
before  his  tragic  death.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  very  fond  of  tall 
men,  and  generally  knew  their  exact  height  and  never 
hesitated  to  say:  "  I  am  exactly  six  feet  three." 

HOW    LINCOLN    BECAME    A    LAWYER. 

That  Lincoln  was  a  skilled  lawyer  is  well  known.  It  is 
not,  however,  generally  knowTi  that  he  learned  law  himself, 
never  having  studied  with  anyone,  or  having  attended  any 
law  school.  He  was  pre-eminently  a  self-educated  man. 
He  borrowed  law  books  of  his  friend,  Stuart,  of  Springfield, 
111.,  took  them  home  (twenty  miles  away)  and  studied  them 
hard.  He  walked  all  the  way  to  Springfield  and  back,  and 
usually  read  wliile  walking.  He  often  read  aloud  during 
these  trips.  Twenty  years  afterward,  while  he  was  a  great 
lawyer  and  statesman,  he  gave  tliis  advice  to  a  young  man 
who  asked  him  "how  he  could  become  a  great  lawyer:" 
"Get  books  and  read  and  study  them  carefully.  Begin 
withBlackstone's 'Conmientaries,'  and  after  reading  care- 
fully through,  say  twice,  take  up  Chitty's  'Pleadings,' 
Greenleaf 's  '  Evidence,'  and  Story's  '  Equity,'  in  succession. 
Work,  work,  work  is  the  main  thing. 

When  Lincoln  became  a  lawyer,  he  carried  to  the  bar  his 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  421 

linooln  as  a  lawyer. 

habitual  honesty.  His  associates  were  often  surprised  by 
his  utter  disregard  of  self-interest,  while  they  could  but 
admire  his  conscientious  defense  of  what  he  considered 
right.     One  day  a  stranger  called  to  secure  his  services. 

"  State  your  case,"  said  Lincoln. 

A  history  of  the  case  was  given,  when  Lincoln  astonished 
him  by  saying: 

"I  cannot  serve  you;  for  you  are  wrong,  and  the  other 
party  is  right." 

"  That  is  none  of  your  business,  if  I  hire  and  pay  you  for 
taking  the  case,"  retorted  the  man. 

"Not  my  business!"  exclaimed  Lincoln.  "My  business 
is  never  to  defend  wrong,  if  I  am  a  lawyer.  I  never  under- 
take a  case  that  is  manifestly  -WTong." 

"Well,  you  can  make  trouble  for  the  fellow,"  added  the 
applicant. 

"Yes, "  replied  Lincoln,  fully  aroused,  "  there  is  n<5  doubt 
but  that  I  can  gain  the  case  for  you,  and  set  a  whole  neigh- 
borhood at  loggerhead.  I  can  distress  a  widowed  mother 
and  her  six  fatherless  children,  and  thereby  get  for  you  six 
hundred  dollars,  which  rightly  belongs  as  much  to  the 
woman  and  her  children  as  it  does  to  you;  but  I  won't  do  it." 

"  Not  for  any  amount  of  pay?"  continued  the  stranger. 

"Not  for  all  you  are  worth,"  replied  Lincoln.  "You 
must  remember  that  some  things  which  are  legally  right 
are  not  morally  right.     I  shall  not  take  your  case." 

"  I  don't  care  a  snap  whether  you  do  or  not!"  exclaimed 
the  man  angrily,  starting  to  go. 

"I  will  give  you  a  piece  of  advice  without  charge," 
added  Lincoln.  "You  seem  to  be  a  sprightly,  energetic 
man ;  I  would  advise  you  to  make  six  hundred  dollars  some 
other  way." 


422  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Lincoln's  conscientiousness  in  taking  cases. 

Even  as  early  as  1852  Lincoln  had  acquired  a  reputation 
for  story  telling.  When  not  busy  during  the  session  of  the 
court  he  was  "habitually  wliispering  stories  to  his  neigh- 
bors, frequently  to  the  annoyance  of  Judge  Davis,  who 
presided  over  the  Eighth  circuit."  If  Lincoln  persisted 
too  long  the  judge  would  rap  on  the  chair  and  exclaim: 
"Come,  come,  Mr.  Lincoln;  I  can't  stand  this!  There  is 
no  use  trying  to  carry  on  two  courts.  I  must  adjourn  mine 
or  yours,  and  I  tliink  you  ^^dll  have  to  be  the  one."  As 
soon  as  the  group  had  scattered  the  judge  would  call  one 
of  the  men  to  Mm  and  ask:  "What  was  that  Lincohi  was 
telling?" 

In  liis  law  practice  Lincoln  seems  to  have  been  singularly 
conscientious,  liis  first  effort  being  to  try  to  arrange  matters 
so  as  to  avoid  litigation.  Nor  would  he  assume  a  case  that 
he  felt  was  not  foimded  upon  right  and  justice. 


THE    JURY   understood. 

Another  one  of  these  anecdotes  is  related  in  connection 
with  a  case  involving  a  bodily  attack.  Mr.  Lincoln  de- 
fended, and  told  the  jury  that  his  cUent  was  in  the  fix  of  a 
man  who,  in  going  along  the  liighway  with  a  pitchfork  over 
Ms  shoulder,  was  attacked  by  a  fierce  dog  that  ran  out  at 
Mm  from  a  farmers  door-yard.  In  parrying  off  the  brute 
with  the  fork  its  prongs  stuck  into  Mm  and  killed  Mm. 

"What  made  you  kill  my  dog?"  said  the  farmer. 

"What  made  Mm  bite  me?" 

"But  why  did  you  not  go  after  him  with  the  other  end 
of  the  pitchfork?" 

"  Why  did  he  not  come  at  me  with  Ms  other  end?"  At 
tMs  Mr.  Lincoln  wMrled  about  in  Ms  long  arms  an  imag- 
inary dog  and  pushed  Ms  tail  end  towards  the  jury.    TMs 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  423 

was  the  defensive  plea  of  "Son  assault  demesne" — loosely 
that  "The  other  fellow  brought  on  the  fight" — quickly 
told  and  in  a  way  the  dullest  mind  would  grasp  and  retain. 

Lincoln's  honesty  with  a  lady  client. 

A  lady  who  had  a  real  estate  claim  which  she  desired  pros- 
ecuted once  called  on  Lincoln  and  wished  him  to  take  up  her 
case.  She  left  the  claim  in  his  hands,  together  with  a  check 
for  two  hundred  dollars  as  a  retaining  fee.  Lincoln  told 
her  to  call  the  next  day,  and  meanwhile  he  would  examine 
her  claim. 

Upon  presenting  herself  the  next  day  the  lady  was  in- 
formed that  he  had  examined  the  case  carefully,  and  told 
her  frankly  that  she  had  no  valid  or  legal  grounds  on 
wliich  to  base  her  claim.  He  therefore  could  not  advise 
her  to  institute  legal  proceedings.  The  lady  was  satisfied 
and  thanking  him,  rose  to  leave. 

"Wait,"  said  Lincoln,  at  the  same  time  fumbling  in 
his  vest  pocket,  "here  is  the  check  you  left  with  me." 

"But,  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  think  you  have  earned  that," 
replied  the  lady.- 

"No,  no,"  he  responded,  handing  it  back  to  her,  "that 
would  not  be  right.  I  can't  take  pay  for  doing  my  duty. " 
— From  Lincoln's  Stories,  by  J.  B.  McClure. 

LINCOLN  WINS   A   CELEBRATED   CASE. 

The  son  of  Lincoln's  old  friend  and  former  employer, 
who  had  loaned  him  books,  was  charged  with  a  murder 
committed  in  a  riot  at  a  camp-meeting.  Lincoln  volun- 
teered for  the  defense. 

A  witness  swore  that  he  saw  the  prisoner  strike  the  fatal 
blow.  It  was  night,  but  he  swore  that  the  full  moon  was 
shining  clear  and  he  saw  everything  distinctly.     The  case 


424  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

seemed  liopeless,  but  Lincoln  produced  an  almanac,  and 
showed  that  at  that  hour  there  was  no  moon.  "Then  he 
depicted  the  crime  of  perjury  with  such  eloquence  that 
the  false  witness  fled  the  court  house." 

One  who  heard  the  trial  says:  "It  was  near  night  when 
Lincoln  concluded,  saying,  'If  justice  was  done,  before 
the  sun  set  it  would  sliine  upon  his  client  a  free  man.'" 

The  court  charged  the  jury;  they  returned  and  brought 
in  a  verdict  of  "not  guilty."  The  prisoner  fell  into  his 
weeping  mother's  arms,  says  the  writer,  and  then  turned 
to  thank  Lincoln.  The  latter,  looking  out  at  the  sun, 
said:  "It  is  not  yet  sundown,  and  you  are  free." — From 
Lincoln's  Stories,  by  J.  B.  McClure. 

Lincoln's  "selfishness." 

Mr.  Lincoln  once  remaiked  to  a  fellow  passenger  on  the 
old-time  mud-wagon  coach,  on  the  corduroy  road  which 
antedated  railroads,  that  all  men  were  prompted  by  self- 
ishness in  doing  good  or  evil..  His  fellow-passenger  was 
antagonizing  his  position  when  they  were  passing  over  a 
corduroy  bridge  that  spanned  a  slough.  As  they  crossed 
this  bridge,  and  the  mud-wagon  was  shaking  like  a  sucker 
with  chills,  they  espied  an  old,  razor-back  sOw  on  the  bank 
of  the  slough,  making  a  terrible  noise  because  her  pigs  had 
got  into  the  slough  and  were  unable  to  get  out  and  in  dan- 
ger of  drowning.  As  the  old  coach  began  to  climb  the 
hillside  Mr.  Lincoln  called  out:  "Driver,  can't  you  stop 
just  a  moment?"  The  driver  replied,  "If  the  other  feller 
don't  object."  The  "other  feller"— who  was  no  less  a 
personage  than,  at  that  time,  "  Col. "  E.  D.  Baker,  the 
gallant  general  who  gave  his  Ufe  in  defense  of  old  glory 
at  Ball's  Bluff— did  not  "object,"  when  Mr.  Lincoln 
jumped  out,  ran  back  to  the  slough  and  began  to  hft  the 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  425 

little  pigs  out  of  the  mud  and  water  and  place  them  on 
the  bank.  When  he  returneil  Col.  Baker  remarked:  "  Now, 
Abe,  where  does  selfishness  come  in  in  this  Uttle  episode?" 
"  Why,  bless  your  soul,  Ed,  that  was  the  very  essence  of 
selfishness.  I  would  have  had  no  peace  of  mind  all  day 
had  I  gone  on  and  left  that  suffering  old  sow  worrying  over 
those  pigs.     I  did  it  to  get  peace  of  mind,  don't  you  see?" 

LINCOLN   REMOVES   A   LICENSE   ON   THEATERS. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  anecdotes  about  the  be- 
loved Lincoln  is  the  one  CLUoted  from  Joe  Jefferson's  auto- 
biography. Jefferson  and  his  father  were  playing  at 
Springfield  during  the  session  of  the  legislature,  and,  as 
there  were  no  theaters  in  town,  had  gone  to  the  expense 
of  building  one.  Hardly  had  this  been  done  when  a  re- 
ligious revival  broke  out.  The  church  people  condemned 
the  theater  and  prevailed  upon  the  authorities  to  impose  a 
license  which  was  practically  prohibition. 

"In  the  midst  of  our  trouble,"  says  Jefferson,  "a  young 
lawyer  called  on  the  managers.  He  had  heard  of  the  in- 
justice and  offered,  if  they  would  place  the  matter  in  his 
hands,  to  have  the  license  taken  off,  declaring  that  he  only 
desired  to  see  fair  play,  and  he  would  accept  no  fee  whether 
he  failed  or  succeeded.  The  young  lawyer  began  his 
harangue.  He  handled  the  subject  with  tact,  skill  and 
humor,  tracing  the  history  of  the  drama  from  the  time 
when  Thespis  acted  in  a  cart  to  the  stage  of  to-day.  He 
illustrated  his  speech  with  a  number  of  anecdotes  and  kept 
the  council  in  a  roar  of  laughter.  His  good  humor  pre- 
vailed and  the  exorbitant  tax  was  taken  off.  The  young 
lawyer  was  Lincoln." 

HOW  LINCOLN  GOT  THE  WORST  OF  A  HORSE  TRADE. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  fond  of  a  good  story,  and  it  is  a 


426  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

well-known  fact  that  he  often  illustrated  an  important 
point  in  the  business  at  hand  by  resorting  to  his  favorite 
pastime.  Probably  one  of  the  best  he  ever  told  he  related 
of  himself  when  he  was  a  lawyer  in  Illinois.  One  day 
Lincoln  and  a  certain  judge,  who  was  an  intimate  friend 
of  his,  were  bantering  each  other  about  horses,  a  favorite 
topic  of  theirs.     Finally  Lincoln  said: 

"Well,  look  here.  Judge,  I'll  tell  you  what  I'll  do.  I'll 
make  a  horse  trade  with  you,  only  it  must  be  upon  these 
stipulations:  Neither  party  shall  see  the  other's  horse 
until  it  is  produced  here  in  the  courtyard  of  the  hotel,  and 
both  parties  must  trade  horses.  If  either  party  backs  out 
of  the  agreement  he  does  so  under  a  forfeiture  of  S25." 

"Agreed,"  cried  the  judge,  and  both  he  and  Lincoln 
went  in  quest  of  their  respective  animals. 

A  crowd  gathered,  anticipating  some  fun,  and  when 
the  judge  returned  first,  the  laugh  was  uproarious.  He 
led,  or  rather  dragged,  at  the  end  of  a  halter  the  meanest, 
boniest,  rib-staring  quadruped— blind  in  both  eyes—  that 
ever  pressed  turf.  But  presently  Lincoln  came  along  carry- 
ing over  his  shoulder  a  carpenter's  horse.  Then  the  mirth 
of  the  crowd  was  furious.  Lincoln  solemnly  set  his  horse 
down,  and  silently  surveyed  the  judge's  animal  with  a 
comical  look  of  infinite  disgust. 

"Well,  Judge,"  he  finally  said,  "this  is  the  first  time  I 
ever  got  the  worst  of  it  in  a  horse  trade." 

LINCOLN   HELPED   HIM   TO   WIN. 

His  first  case  at  the  bar  will  never  be  forgotten  by  ex- 
Senator  John  C.  S.  Blackburn,  of  Kentucky,  for  Abraham 
Lincoln  played  a  conspicuous  part  in  helping  the  Ken- 
tucldan  to  win  his  suit.  Lincoln  was  merely  an  attorney, 
waiting  for  one  of  his  cases  to  be  called,  when  the  incident 
occurred. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  427 

Ex-Senator  Blackburn  was  but  twenty  years  old  when 
he  began  the  practice  of  law,  having  graduated  at  Center 
College,  Danville,  Ky.  His  first  case  was  in  the  United 
States  Court  in  Chicago,  presided  over  by  Justice  John 
McLean,  then  on  the  circuit,  says  the  Chicago  Times- 
Herald.  The  opposing  counsel  was  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  then 
at  the  head  of  the  Chicago  bar,  and  subsequently  a  member 
of  Congress  and  author  of  the  first  biography  of  Lincoln. 
Young  Blackburn  had  filed  a  demurrer  to  Mr.  Arnold's 
pleadings  in  the  cause,  and  when  the  case  was  reached  on 
the  calendar  the  young  Kentuckian  was  quite  nervous  at 
having  such  a  formidable  and  experienced  antagonist, 
while  the  dignity  of  the  tribunal  and  the  presence  of  a  large 
number  of  eminent  lawyers  in  court  served  to  increase  his 
timidity  and  embarrassment.  In  truth,  the  stripling  bar- 
rister was  willing  to  have  any  disposition  made  of  the 
cause  in  order  to  get  rid  of  the  burden  of  embarrassment 
and  "stage  fright."  He  was  ready  to  adopt  any  sugges- 
tion the  opposing  counsel  should  make. 

Arnold  made  an  argument  in  which  he  criticised  the 
demurrer  in  a  manner  that  increased  the  young  lawyer's 
confusion.  However,  Blackburn  knew  that  he  had  to 
make  some  kind  of  a  effort.  He  proceeded  with  a  few 
remarks,  weak  and  bewildering,  and  was  about  to  sit 
down  when  a  tall,  homely,  loose-jointed  man  sitting  in 
the  bar  arose  and  addressed  the  court  in  behalf  of  the 
position  of  the  young  Kentuckian  had  assumed  in  a  feeble 
and  tangled  argument,  making  the  points  so  clear  that 
the  court  sustained  the  demurrer. 

Blackburn  did  not  know  who  his  volunteer  friend  was, 
and  Mr.  Arnold  got  up  and  sought  to  rebuke  the  latter  for 
attempting  to  interfere  in  the  case,  which  he  had  nothing 
to  do  with.  This  volunteer  was  none  other  than  Abraham 
Lincoln,  and  this  was  the  first  and  last  time  the  Kentuckian 


428 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


ever  saw  the  "rail-splitting  President."  In  replying  to 
Mr.  Arnold's  strictures,  Mr.  Lincoln  said  he  claimed  the 
privilege  of  giving  a  young  lawyer  a  helping  hand  when 
struggling  ^\'ith  his  first  case,  especially  when  he  was  pitted 
against  an  experienced  practitioner. 

LINCOLN    SETTLES    A    QUARREL    WITHOUT    GOING    TO    LAW. 


When  Abe  Lincoln  used  to  be  drifting  around  the  country 
practicing  law  in  Fulton  and  Menard  counties,  Illinois, 
an  old  fellow  met  him  going  to  Lewiston,  riding  a  horse 
which,  while  it  was  a  serviceable  enough  animal,  was  not 
of  the  kind  to  be  truthfully  called  a  fine  saddler.  It  was 
a  weather-beaten  nag,  patient  and  plodding,  and  it  toiled 
along  with  Abe, — and  Abe's  books,  tucked  away  in  saddle- 
bags, lay  heavy  on  the  horse's  flank. 

"Hello,  Uncle  Tommy,"  said  Abe.  "Hello,  Abe," 
responded  LTncle  Tommy.  "I'm  powerful  glad  to  see 
ye,  Abe,  fer  I'm  gwyne  to  have  sumthin'  fer  ye  at  Lewis- 
ton  cot,  I  reckon." 

"How's  that.  Uncle  Tommy?"  said  Abe. 

"Well,  Jim  Adams,  his  land  runs  long  o'  mine,  he's 
pesterin'  me  a  heap  an'  I  got  to  get  the  law  on  Jim,  I 
reckon." 

"Uncle  Tommy,  you  haven't  had  any  fights  with  Jim, 
have  you?" 

"No." 

"He's  a  fair  to  middling  neighbor,  isn't  he?" 

"Only  tollable,  Abe." 

"  He's  been  a  neighbor  of  yovu^s  for  a  long  time,  hasn't 
he?"  . 

"Nigh  onto  fifteen  year." 

"Part  of  the  time  you  get  along  all  right,  don't  you?" 

"I  reckon  we  do,  Abe." 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  429 

"Well,  now,  Uncle  Tommy,  you  see,  this  horse  of  mine? 
He  isn't  as  good  a  horse  as  I  could  straddle,  and  I  some- 
times get  out  of  patience  with  him,  but  I  know  his  faults. 
He  does  fairly  well  as  horses  go,  and  it  might  take  me  a 
long  time  to  get  used  to  some  other  horse's  faults.  For 
all  horses  have  faults.  You  and  Uncle  Jimmy  must  put 
up  with  each  other  as  I  and  my  horse  do  with  one  another." 

"  I  reckon,  Abe,"  said  Uncle  Tommy,  as  he  bit  off  about 
four  ounces  of  Missouri  plug,  "I  reckon  you're  about 
right." 

And  Abe  Lincoln,  with  a  smile  on  liis  gaunt  face,  rode 
on  toward  Lewiston. 

A     LINCOLN     STORY     ABOUT     LITTLE      DAN     WEBSTER'S 
SOILED    HANDS. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  on  one  occasion  narrated  to  Hon.  Mr. 
Odell  and  others,  with  much  zest,  the  following  story 
about  young  Daniel  Webster: 

When  quite  young,  at  school,  Daniel  was  one  day  guilty 
of  a  gross  violation  of  the  rules.  He  was  detected  in  the 
act,  and  called  up  by  the  teacher  for  punishment.  This 
was  to  be  the  old-fashioned  "feruling"  of  the  hand.  His 
hands  happened  to  be  very  dirty.  Knowing  this,  on  his 
way  to  the  teacher's  desk,  he  .spit  upon  the  palm  of  his 
right  hand,  wiping  it  off  upon  the  side  of  his  pantaloons. 

"  Give  me  your  hand,  sir,"  said  the  teacher,  very  sternly. 

Out  went  the  right  hand,  partly  cleaned.  The  teacher 
looked  at  it  a  moment,  and  said: 

"  Daniel !  if  you  will  find  another  hand  in  this  school- 
room as  filthy  as  that,  I  will  let  you  off  this  time." 

Instantly  from  behind  his  back  came  the  left  hand 
"Here  it  is,  sir,"  was  the  ready  reply. 

"That  will  do,"  said  the  teacher,  "for  this  time;   you 


430 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


can  take  your  seat,  sir." — From  Lincoln's  Stories,  by  J.  B. 
McClure. 

Lincoln's  long  limbs  drive  a  man  out  of  his  berth. 


There  was  one  story  of  his  career  that  the  late  George 
M.  Pullman  told  with  manifest  delight,  wliich  is  thus  re- 
lated by  an  intimate  friend. 

One  night,  going  out  of  Chicago,  a  long,  lean,  ugly  man 
with  a  wart  on  his  cheek,  came  into  the  depot.  He  paid 
George  M.  Pullman  50  cents,  and  half  a  birth  was  assigned 
him.  Then  he  took  off  his  coat  and  vest  and  hung  them 
up,  and  they  fitted  the  peg  about  as  well  as  they  fitted 
him.  Then  he  kicked  off  his  boots,  which  were  of  surprising 
length,  turned  into  the  berth,  and,  ha\ang  an  easy  con- 
science, was  sleeping  like  a  healthy  baby  before  the  car 
left  the  depot.  Along  came  another  passenger  and  paid 
his  50  cents.  In  two  minutes  he  was  back  at  George 
Pullman. 

"There's  a  man  in  that  berth  of  mine,"  said  he,  hotly, 
"and  he's  about  ten  feet  high.  How  am  I  going  to  sleep 
there,  I'd  like  to  know?    Go  and  look  at  him." 

In  went  Pullman — mad,  too.  The  tall,  lank  man's 
knees  were  under  his  chin,  his  arms  were  stretched  across 
the  bed  and  his  feet  were  stored  comfortabl}- — for  him. 
Pullman  shook  him  until  he  awoke,  and  then  told  him 
if  he  wanted  the  whole  berth  he  would  have  to  pay  $1. 

"My  dear  sir,"  said  the  tall  man,  "a  contract  is  a  con- 
tract. I  have  paid  you  50  cents  for  half  this  berth,  and, 
as  you  see,  I'm  occupying  it.  There's  the  other  half," 
pointing  to  a  strip  about  six  inches  wide.  "Sell  that  and 
don't  disturb  me  again."  And,  so  saying,  the  man  with 
a  wart  on  his  face  went  to  sleep  again.  He  was  Abraham 
Lincoln. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  431 

Lincoln's   joke   on   douglas. 

On  one  occasion,  when  Lincoln  and  Douglas  were 
"stumping"  the  State  of  Illinois  together  as  political  oppo- 
nents, Douglas,  who  had  the  first  speech,  remarked  that 
in  early  life,  his  father,  who  he  said  was  an  excellent 
cooper  by  trade,  apprenticed  him  to  learn  the  cabinet 
business. 

This  was  too  good  for  Lincoln  to  let  pass,  so  when  his 
turn  came  to  reply,  he  said: 

"I  had  understood  before  that  Mr.  Douglas  had  been 
bound  out  to  learn  the  cabinet-making  business,  which  is 
all  well  enough,  but  I  was  not  aware  until  now  that  his 
father  was  a  cooper.  I  have  no  doubt,  however,  that  he 
was  one,  and  I  am  very  certain,  also,  that  he  was  a  very 
good  one,  for  (here  Lincoln  gently  bowed  toward  Douglas) 
he  has  made  one  of  the  best  whisky  casks  I  have  ever  seen." 

As  Douglas  was  a  very  short,  heavy-set  man,  and  occa- 
sionally imbibed,  the  pith  of  the  joke  was  at  once  apparent, 
and  most  heartily  enjoyed  by  all. 

On  another  occasion,  Douglas,  in  one  of  his  speeches, 
made  a  strong  point  against  Lincoln  by  telling  the  crowd 
that  when  he  first  knew  Mr.  Lincoln  he  was  a  "grocery- 
keeper,"  and  sold  whisky,  cigars,  etc.  "Mr.  L." 
he  said,  "was  a  very  good  bar-tender!"  Tliis  brought 
the  laugh  on  Lincoln,  whose  reply,  however,  soon  came, 
and  then  the  laugh  was  on  the  other  side. 

"What  Mr.  Douglas  has  said,  gentlemen,"  replied  Mr. 
Lincoln,  "is  true  enough;  I  did  keep  a  grocery  and  I  did 
sell  cotton,  candles  and  cigars,  and  sometimes  wliisky; 
but  I  remember  in  those  days  that  Mr.  Douglas  was  one 
of  my  best  customers. 

"Many  a  time  have  I  stood  on  one  side  of  the  counter 
and  sold  wliisky  to  Mr.  Douglas  on  the  other  side,  but  the 


432 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


difference  between  us  now  is  this:  I  have  left  my  side  of 
the  counter,  jyut  Mr.  Douglas  still  sticks  to  his  as  tena- 
ciously as  ever! " — From  Lincoln's  Stories,  by  J.  B.  McClure. 

LINCOLN   SHREWDLY  TRAPS   DOUGLAS. 

Perhaps  no  anecdote  ever  told  of  Mr.  Lincoln  illustrates 
more  forcibly  his  "  longheadedness "  in  la>'ing  plans,  not 
even  that  incident  when  he  asked  the  "  Jedge"  a  question 
in  his  debate  with  i\Ir.  Douglas,  which  may  be  told  as  fol- 
lows : 

One  afternoon  during  that  joint  debate  ^Ir.  Lincoln 
was  sitting  with  his  friends,  planning  the  program,  when 
he  was  observed  to  go  off  in  a  kind  of  reverie,  and  for  some 
time  appeared  totally  obli\'ious  of  everything  aromid 
him.  Then  slowly  bringing  his  right  hand  up,  holding 
it  a  moment  in  the  air  and  then  letting  it  fall  with  a  quick 
slap  upon  his  tliigh,  he  said: 

"There,  I  am  going  to  ask  the  'jedge'  (he  always  called 
him  the  'jedge')  a  question  to-night,  and  I  don't  care  the 
ghost  of  a  continental  which  way  he  answers  it.  If  he 
answers  it  one  way  he  will  lose  his  senatorship.  If  he 
answers  it  the  other  way  it  will  lose  him  the  Presidency." 

No  one  asked  liim  what  the  question  was:  but  that 
evening  it  was  the  turn  for  Mr.  Douglas  to  speak  first, 
and  right  in  the  midst  of  his  address,  all  at  once  i\Ir. 
Lincoln  roused  up  as  if  a  new  thought  had  suddenly 
struck  him,  and  said: 

"Jedge,  will  you  allow  me  to  ask  you  one  question?" 

"Certainly,"  said  Mr.  Douglas. 

"Suppose,  Jedge,  there  was  a  new  town  or  colony 
just  started  in  some  Western  territory;  and  suppose 
there  were  precisely  100  householders — voters — there: 
and  suppose,  Jedge,  that  ninety-nine  did  not  want  slavery 
and  one  did.     What  would  be  done  about  it?" 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  433 

Judge  Dou2;las  beat  about  the  busli,  but  failed  to  give 
a  direct  answer. 

"No,  no,  Jedge,  that  won't  do.  Tell  us  plainly  what 
would  be  done  about  it?" 

Again  Pouglas  tried  to  evade,  but  Lincoln  would  not  be 
put  off,  and  he  insisted  that  a  direct  answer  should  be 
given.  At  last  Douglas  admitted  that  the  majority  would 
have  their  way  by  some  means  or  other. 

Mr.  Lincoln  said  no  more.  He  had  secured  what  he 
wanted.  Douglas  had  answered  the  question  as  Illinois 
people  would  have  answered  it,  and  he  got  the  Senator- 
ship.  But  that  answer  was  not  satisfactory  to  the  peoi)le 
of  the  South.  Li  1860  the  Charleston  convention  split 
in  two  factions  and  "it  lost  him  the  Presidency,"  and  it 
made  Abraham  Lincoln  President. 

Lincoln's  fairness  in  debate. 

The  first  time  I  met  Mr.  Lincoln  was  during  his  contest 
with  Douglas.  I  was  a  young  clergyman  in  a  small 
Illinois  country  town.  I  was  almost  a  stranger  there 
when  Lincoln  was  announced  to  make  a  speech.  I  went 
to  the  hall,  got  a  seat  well  forward  and  asked  a  neighbor 
to  point  out  Mr.  Lincoln  when  he  came  in.  "You 
won't  have  no  trouble  knowin'  liim  when  he  comes," 
said  my  friend,  and  I  didn't.  Soon  a  tall,  gaimt  man 
came  down  the  aisle  and  was  greeted  with  hearty  ap- 
plause. 

I  was  specially  impressed  with  the  fairness  and  honesty 
of  the  man.  He  began  by  stating  Douglas'  points  as 
fully  and  fairly  as  Douglas  could  have  done.  It  struck 
me  that  he  even  overdid  it  in  his  anxiety  to  put  his  op- 
ponent's argument  in  the  most  attractive  form.  But 
then  he  went  at  those  arguments  and  answered  them  so 
con\nncingly  that  there  was  nothing  more  to  be  said. 


434 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


Mr.  Lincoln's  manner  so  charmed  me  that  I  asked  to 
meet  him  after  the  address,  and  learning  that  he  was  to 
be  in  town  the  next  day  attending  court  I  invited  liim 
to  dine  with  me.  He  came,  and  we  had  an  interesting 
visit. 

The  thing  that  most  impressed  me  was  liis  reverence 
for  learning.  Recently  come  from  divinity  studies,  I 
was  full  of  books,  and  he  was  earnest  in  drawing  me  out 
about  them.  He  was  by  no  means  ignorant  of  literature, 
but  as  a  man  of  affairs  naturally  he  had  not  followed  new 
things  nor  studied  in  the  lines  I  had .  Philosophy  interested 
him  particularly,  and  after  we  hatl  talked  about  some  of 
the  men  then  in  vogue  he  remarked  how  much  he  felt 
the  need  of  reading  and  what  a  loss  it  was  to  a  man  not 
to  have  grown  up  among  books. 

"Men  of  force,"  I  answered,  "can  get  on  pretty  well 
without  books.  They  do  their  own  tliinking  instead  of 
adopting  what  other  men  think." 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "but  books  serve  to  show  a 
man  that  those  original  thoughts  of  his  aren't  very  new 
after  all." 

I  met  Mr.  Lincoln  several  times  later,  the  next  time  a 
long  while  after  in  another  place.  I  thought  he  would  have 
forgotten  me,  but  he  laiew  me  on  sight  and  asked  in  the 
gentlest  way  possible  about  my  wife,  who  had  been  ill 
when  he  came  to  see  us.  But  of  all  my  memories  of  Lin- 
coln the  one  that  stands  out  strongest  was  his  interest  in 
poetry  and  theology.  He  loved  the  things  of  the  spirit. 
— A  Clergyman. 


LINCOLN  ASKED  HIS  FRIEND  S  HELP  FOR  THE 
UNITED  STATES  SEN.\TE. 

One  of  the  most  valued  possessions  of  the  Gillespie 
family  of  Ed^vards^^llc,  111.,  is  a  package  of  old  letters, 


Life  op  Abraham  Lincoln.  435 

the  paper  stained  by  time  and  the  ink  faded,  but  each 
missive  rendered  invaluable,  to  them  at  least,  by  the 
well  known  signature  of  Abraham  Lincoln  which  adorns 
it.  These  letters,  so  carefully  preserved,  are  nearly  all 
of  a  political  nature,  and  are  addressed  to  Hon.  Joseph 
Gillespie,  before  the  war  one  of  the  leading  politicians 
of  Illinois,  a  famous  stump  speaker,  several  times  member 
of  the  legislature,  and  for  many  years  one  of  Lincoln's 
most  intimate  political  friends.  The  correspondence 
covers  a  period  of  about  ten  years,  from  1849  to  1858, 
and  the  most  interesting  feature  of  this  period,  so  far  as 
Lincoln  was  concerned,  was  his  unsuccessful  effort  to  be 
elected  to  the  United  States  Senate.  Probably  the  first 
intimation  of  his  ambition  in  this  direction  was  conveyed 
to  Mr.  Gillespie  in  the  following  letter,  the  original  of 
which  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Missouri  Historical 
Association,  having  been  presented  to  that  society  by 
Mr.  Gillespie  in  1876.  A  copy,  however,  forms  part  of 
the  family  collection.     It  reads: 

"Springfield,  111.,  December  1, 1854.— (J.  Gillespie,  Esq.)— 
Dear  Sir:  I  have  really  got  it  into  my  head  to  be  United 
States  senator,  and  if  I  could  have  your  support  my 
chances  would  be  reasonably  good.  But  I  know  and 
acknowledge  that  you  have  as  just  claims  to  the  place  as  I 
have;  and,  therefore,  I  carmot  ask  you  to  yield  to  me  if 
you  are  thinking  of  becoming  a  candidate  yourself.  If, 
however,  you  are  not,  then  I  would  like  to  be  remembered 
by  you;  and  also  to  have  you  make  a  mark  for  me  with 
the  anti-Nebraska  members  down  your  way.  If  you 
know,  and  have  no  objection  to  tell,  let  me  know  whether 
Trumbull  intends  to  make  a  push.  If  he  does  I  suppose 
the  two  men  in  St.  Clair,  and  one  or  both  in  Madison, 
will  be  for  him 


436  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

"We  have  the  legislature  clearly  enough  on  joint  ballot, 
but  the  senate  is  very  close,  and  Cullom  told  me  to-day 
that  the  Nebraska  men  will  stave  off  the  election  if  they 
can.  Even  if  we  get  into  joint  vote  we  shall  have  diffi- 
culty to  unite  our  forces.  Please  write  me  and  let  this 
be  confidential.     Your  friend  as  ever. 

"A.  Lincoln." 

MAKING  LINCOLN  PRESENTABLE. 

In  narrating  "When  Lincoln  Was  First  Inaugurated," 
Stephen  Fiske  tells  of  Mrs.  Lincoln's  efforts  to  have  her 
husband  look  presentable  when  receiA-ing  a  delegation 
that  was  to  greet  them  upon  reaching  New  York  City. 

"The  train  stopped,"  writes  Mr.  Fiske,  "and  through 
the  windows  immense  crowds  could  be  seen;  the  cheering 
drowning  the  blo-ning  off  of  steam  of  the  locomotive. 
Then  Mrs.  Lincoln  opened  her  hand  bag  and  said: 

"  'Abraham,  I  must  fix  you  up  a  bit  for  these  city  folks.' 

"Mr.  Lincoln  gently  lifted  her  upon  the  seat  before  him; 
she  parted,  combed  and  brushed  his  hair  and  arranged  his 
black  necktie. 

"  'Do  I  look  nice  now,  mother?'  he  affectionately  asked. 

"  'Well,  you'll  do,  Abraham,'  replied  Mrs.  Lincoln 
critically.  So  he  kissed  her  and  lifted  her  down  from  the 
seat,  and  turned  to  meet  Mayor  Wood,  courtly  and  suave, 
and  to  have  his  hand  shaken  by  the  other  New  York 
officials." 

EVIDENCE   OF   LINCOLN'S   RELIGIOUS   BELIEF. 

There  has  been  much  controversy  over  Lincoln's  re- 
ligious beliefs,  many  claiming  that  he  was  a  deist  while 
others  have  sought  to  prove  that  he  was  an  infidel.     Al- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  437 

though  never  a  member  of  any  church,  there  is  much 
documentary  as  well  as  corroborative  evidence  wliich 
show  liim  to  have  been  a  believer  in  Providence;  and  in 
his  parting  address  to  his  Springfield  neighbors,  when 
leaving  for  Washington,  he  saiii: 

"Waslungton  would  never  have  succeeded  except  for 
the  aid  of  Divine  Pro\'idence,  upon  which  he  at  all  times 
relied.  I  feel  that  I  cannot  succeed  without  the  same 
Divine  blessing  wliich  sustained  him;  and  on  the  same 
Almighty  Being  I  place  my  reliance  for  support.  And  I 
hope  you,  my  friends,  will  all  pray  that  I  may  receive 
that  Di\'ine  assistance,  without  which  I  cannot  succeed, 
but  with  which  success  is  certain. 

LINCOLN    A   TEMPERANCE   MAN. 

After  his  nomination  for  the  Presidency  at  the  Republican 
convention  of  Chicago,  a  committee  visited  him  in  Spring- 
field and  gave  him  official  notification  of  his  nomination. 

The  ceremony  over,  Lincoln  informed  the  company  that 
custom  demanded  that  he  should  treat  them  with  some- 
thing to  drink.  He  thereupon  opened  a  door  that  led  into 
a  room  in  the  rear  and  called  a  girl  servant.  When  she 
appeared  Lincoln  spoke  something  to  her  in  an  imdertone, 
and  returned  to  his  guests.  In  a  few  minutes  the  girl 
appeared,  bearing  a  large  waiter,  containing  several  glass 
tumblers,  and  a  large  pitcher  in  the  midst,  which  she  placed 
upon  the  table. 

Mr.  Lincoln  arose  and  gravely  addressing  the  company, 
said:  "Gentlemen,  we  must  pledge  our  mutual  healths 
in  the  most  healthy  beverage  wliich  God  has  given  to 
man;  it  is  the  only  beverage  I  have  ever  used  or  allowed 
in  my  family,  and  I  cannot  conscientiously  depart  from  it 
on  the  present  occasion.     It  is  pure  Adam's  ale  from  the 


438  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

spring."  So  saying,  he  took  a  tumbler,  touched  it  to 
his  hps  and  pledged  them  his  highest  respects  in  a  cup  of 
cold  water.  Of  course  all  his  guests  were  constrained  to 
admire  his  consistency,  and  to  join  in  his  example. — From 
Lincoln's  Stories,  by  J.  B.  McClure. 

Lincoln's  famous  Gettysburg  address. 

Speaking  of  the  dedication  of  the  National  Cemetery 
at  Gettysburg  and  President  liincoln's  famous  address, 
delivered  on  that  occasion,  Nov.  19,  1863,  Gov.  Curtain, 
of  Pennsylvania,  said  that  there  had  been  much  discussion 
as  to  how  and  when  that  address  was  written,  and  he 
continued : 

"I  can  tell  you  all  about  that.  Of  course  I  was  there, 
and  the  President  and  his  cabinet  had  arrived  and  were 
at  the  hotel.  Soon  after  his  arrival,  as  we  were  sitting 
around  in  the  parlor,  Mr.  Lincoln  looked  thoughtful  for 
a  moment  or  two,  and  then  said:  'I  beUeve,  gentlemen, 
the  committee  are  expecting  me  to  say  something  here 
to-day.  If  you  will  excuse  me  I  will  go  into  this  room  here 
and  prepare  it.'  After  a  time  he  returned,  holding  in 
his  hand  a  large,  yellow,  government  envelope,  on  wliich 
he  had  written  his  address. 

"  'Here,  gentlemen,'  he  said,  'I  want  to  read  this  to 
you  to  see  if  it  will  do';  and  sitting  down  he  read  it  to  us, 
and  then  said:  'Now  for  your  criticisms.  Will  it  do? 
What  do  you  say?' 

"Several  spoke  in  favor  of  it,  and  one  or  two  commended 
it  in  strong  terms.  'Well,'  says  the  President,  'haven't 
you  any  criticisms?    What  do  you  say,  Seward?' 

"Mr.  Seward  made  one  or  two  suggestions,  bearing  on 
some  slight  verbal  changes,  which  I  believe  Mr.  Lincoln 
incorporated. 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  439 

"  'Now,  if  you  will  allow  rue.  gentlemen,'  continued  the 
President,  'I  will  copy  this  off';  and  again  withdrew  and 
made  a  copy  of  the  address." 

THE   GETTYSBURG   ADDRESS. 

"Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Four  score  and  seven  years 
ago  your  fathers  brought  forth  upon  this  continent  a  new 
nation,  conceived  in  liberty  and  dedicated  to  the  proposi- 
tion that  all  men  are  created  equal.  Now  we  are  engaged 
in  a  great  civil  war,  testing  whether  that  nation,  or  any 
nation  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated,  can  long  endure. 
We  are  met  on  a  great  battlefield  of  that  war.  We  have 
come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a  final  resting- 
place  for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  the  nation 
might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we 
should  do  tliis. 

"But  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate,  we  cannot 
consecrate,  we  cannot  hallow  this  ground.  The  brave 
men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here  have  consecrated 
it  far  above  our  power  to  add  to  or  detract.  The  world 
will  little  note,  nor  long  remember,  what  we  say  here, 
but  it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here. 

"Is  it  for  us,  the  living,  rather  to  be  dedicated  here  to 
the  unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here  have 
thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here 
dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us,  that  from 
these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  that 
cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full  mesure  of  devotion ; 
that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not  have 
died  in  vain ;  that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new 
birth  of  freedom,  and  that  the  government  of  the  people, 
by  the  people,  and  for  the  people  shall  not  perish  from 
the  earth." 


440 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


LINCOLN   AS   A   RULER. 


Mr.  Henry  Waterson,  the  distinguished  and  scholarly 
editor  of  the  widely  read  Louisville  Courier  Journal,  once 
delivered  a  lecture  on  "Lincoln."  The  following  is  part 
of  what  he  said: 

"After  he  was  inaugurated  President,  Mr.  Lincoln 
evinced  four  great  quaUties  of  mind  and  heart  so  great, 
indeed,  that  it  is  doubtful  if  such  a  combination  of  kingly 
talents  was  ever  before  or  since  concentrated  in  the  same 
man."  Mr.  Watterson  then  elaborated  from  historical  facts, 
incidents,  and  conclusions,  as  also  from  quotations  from  Mr. 
Lincoln's  speeches  and  letters,  his  direction  and  manage- 
ment of  generals  and  cabinet  officers,  his  knowledge  of 
law,  diplomacy,  and  military  affairs,  his  firmness  for  the 
right,  liis  great  kindness  of  heart,  and  love  of  humanity, 
the  follo\\ing  propositions: 

1.  Lincoln  was  the  wisest  ruler  of  this  or  any  other  age. 

2.  He  had  the  firmness  of  the  everlasting  liills. 

3.  His  love  of  justice  and  righteousness  between  man 
and  man,  and  between  nations  guided  him  in  all  things. 

4.  His  kindness  of  heart,  and  liis  sympatliies  for  man- 
kind were  as  an  overflowing  fountain. 

5.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  raised  up  of  God,  and  in  a 
sense  inspired  for  the  place  and  work  he  fulfilled  in  the  world. 

"Perhaps  the  most  striking  illustration  of  superior 
wisdom  and  power  as  a  ruler,"  said  the  speaker,  "was  his 
reply  to  Mr.  Seward's  proposition  to  declare  war  against 
France  and  Spain,  and  impliedly  against  England  and 
Russia,  only  one  month  after  Lincoln's  inauguration. 
The  reply  was  complete;  so  was  his  mastery  over  the  most 
astute  and  scholarly  statesman  and  diplomatist  of  the 
age.  While  preparing  that  reply,  the  same  night  after 
recei\dng    Mr.    Seward's    wonderful    proposals— a    reply 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


441 


which  the  best  critics  of  the  world  have  declared  needed 
not  another  word,  and  would  not  have  been  complete 
with  one  word  lacking — he  was  overheard  repeating  to 
himself  audibly  over  and  over,  'One  war  at  a  time,  one 
war  at  a  time,  one  war  at  a  time.'  " 

Lincoln's  real  object  in  conducting 

THE   WAR. 

The  great  Horace  Greeley  was  wont  to  criticize  Lincoln's 
plan  of  conducting  the  war.  He  finally  wanted  to  know 
"what  were  the  purposes  and  aim.s  of  the  President,  any- 
way?" The  following  is  Lincoln's  reply,  showing  that 
liis  sole  purpose  was  to  save  the  Union  at  whatever  cost: 

"If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union  imless 
they  could  at  the  same  time  save  slavery,  I  do  not  agree 
with  them.  If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the 
Union  unless  they  could  at  the  same  time  destroy  slavery, 
I  do  not  agree  with  them.  My  paramoimt  object  is  to 
save  the  Union,  and  not  either  to  save  or  destroy  slavery. 
If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave,  I 
would  do  it.  If  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves, 
I  would  do  it,  and  if  I  could  do  it  by  freeing  some  and  leav- 
ing others  alone  I  would  also  do  that.  What  I  do  about 
slavery  and  the  colored  race  I  do  because  I  believe  it 
helps  to  save  the  Union,  and  what  I  forbear  I  forbear 
because  I  do  not  believe  it  helps  to  save  the  Union.  I 
shall  do  less  whenever  I  shall  believe  that  what  I  am  doing 
hurts  the  cause,  and  I  shall  do  more  whenever  I  believe 
doing  more  will  help  the  cause." 

LINCOLN  ASKED  FOR  SOME   OF  GRANT's 
WHISKEY. 

When  officious  intermeddlers  went  to  President  Lincoln 
and  demanded  Gen.  Grant's  removal  from  the  command 


442 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 


of  the  armies,  charging  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  getting 
drunk,  Lincoln  coolly  asked  them  where  he  could  get  some 
of  the  brand  of  whisky  that  Grant  was  using;  he  wanted 
to  supply  it  to  his  other  generals.  This  remark  of  his 
silenced  his  callers,  and  he  heard  no  more  complaints 
about  Grant's  getting  drunk. 

LINCOLN   BELIEVED   HIMSELF   UGLY. 

Mrs.  Benjamin  Price,  of  Baltimore,  told,  at  a  meeting 
of  the  Woman's  Literary  Club  of  that  city,  two  anecdotes 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.  In  one  of  them  she  said  that  her 
father-in-law  had  at  one  time  been  appointed  to  a  govern- 
ment position  in  place  of  Mr.  Addison,  who  was  a  most 
polished  but  notably  plain-featured  man.  The  two 
gentlemen  went  together  to  call  upon  President  Lincoln, 
who  received  them  cheerfully  in  the  naidst  of  the  some- 
what embarrassing  operation  of  shaving.  His  face  was 
a  lather  of  soap,  he  extended  a  hand  to  each,  and  upon  Mr. 
Addison  enumerating  the  good  qualities  of  his  successor, 
and  congratulating  the  President  upon  seeming  so  eminent 
an  officer,  Mr.  Lincoln  exclaimed: 

"Yes,  Adrlison,  I  have  no  doubt  Mr.  Price  is  all  that  you 
say,  but  notWng  can  compensate  me  for  the  loss  of  you, 
for  when  you  retire  I  shall  be  the  homeliest  man  in  the  em- 
ployment of  the  government." 


LINCOLN  S  KINDNESS  TO  A  DISABLED  SOLDIER. 

One  summer  morning,  shortly  before  the  close  of  the 
civil  war,  the  not  unusual  sight  in  Washington  of  an  old 
veteran  hobbling  along  could  have  been  seen  on  a  shady 
path  that  led  from  the  executive  mansion  to  the  war  office. 
The  old  man  was  in  pain,  and  the  pale,  smiken  cheeks 
and  vague,  far-way  stare  in  his  eyes  betokened  a  short- 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  443 

lived  existence.  He  halted  a  moment  and  then  slowly 
approachetl  a  tall  gentleman  who  was  walking  along. 
"Good  morning,  sir.  I  am  an  old  soldier  and  would  like 
to  ask  your  advice." 

The  gentleman  turned,  and  smiling  kindly,  invited  the 
poor,  old  veteran  to  a  seat  under  a  shady  tree.  There  he 
listened  to  the  man's  story  of  liow  he  had  fought  for  the 
Union  and  was  severely  wounded,  incapacitating  him  for 
other  work  in  life,  and  begging  directions  how  to  apply 
for  back  pay  due  liim  and  a  pension,  offering  liis  papers 
for   examination. 

The  gentleman  looked  over  the  papers  and  then  took 
out  a  card  and  wrote  directions  on  it,  also  a  few  words  to 
the  pension  bureau,  desiring  that  speedy  attention  be 
given  to  the  applicant,  and  handed  it  to  him. 

The  old  soldier  looked  at  it,  and  with  tears  in  his  eyes, 
thanked  the  tall  gentleman,  who,  with  a  sad  look,  bade 
him  good  luck  and  hurried  up  the  walk.  Slowly  the  old 
soldier  read  the  card  again,  and  then  turned  it  over  to 
read  the  name  of  the  owner.  More  tears  welled  in  his 
eyes  when  he  knew  whom  he  had  addressed  himself  to, 
and  his  lips  muttered:  "I  am  glad  I  fought  for  him  and 
the  country,  for  he  never  forgets.  God  bless  Abraham 
Lincoln!" 

A   SAMPLE   OF  LI.NCOLN'S  STATESMANSHIP. 

President  Lincoln,  the  man  who  said  and  did  so  many 
kindly  things,  taught  Seward  how  to  write  state  papers. 
He  was  not  only  master  of  the  situation  in  this  country, 
I)ut  when  England  and  France  were  about  combining  to 
recognize  the  Confederacy  he  so  won  the  admiration  of 
Lord  Lyon,  the  British  ambassador  at  Washington,  that 
that  official  informed  Lord  Russell  that  he  was  in  error 
when  he  sent  instructions  to  prepare  the  government 


444  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

for  the  recognition  of  tlie  South  by  England,  and  Lord 
Lyon  afterwards  resigned  his  office  in  consequence  of  the 
opposition  of  Lincohi.  At  that  time  there  was  a  Russian 
fleet  in  New  York  harbor  under  sealed  instructions,  to 
be  opened  when  France  and  England  made  their  move, 
and  the  instructions  were  afterward  found  to  be  a  com- 
mand to  the  admiral  to  report  to  his  excellency,  President 
Lincoln. 

TWO   GOOD   STORIES. 

At  a  cabinet  meeting  once  the  advisabihty  of  putting 
a  legend  on  greenbacks  similar  to  the  In  God  We  Trust 
legend  on  the  silver  coins  was  discussed,  and  the  President 
was  asked  what  his  \'iew  was.  He  replied:  If  you  are 
going  to  put  a  legend  on  the  greenbacks  I  would  suggest 
that  of  Peter  and  Paul:  "Silver  and  gold  we  have  not, 
but  what  we  have  we'll  give  you." 

On  another  occasion  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was  going  to 
attend  a  political  convention  one  of  his  rivals,  a  livery- 
man, provided  him  with  a  slow  horse,  hoping  that  he 
would  not  reach  his  destination  in  time.  Mr.  Lincoln 
got  there,  however,  and  when  he  returned  wdth  the  horse 
he  said:  "You  keep  this  horse  for  funerals,  don't  you?" 
"Oh,  no,"  rephed  the  Hver>-man.  "Well,  I'm  glad  of 
that,  for  if  you  did  you'd  never  get  a  corpse  to  the  grave 
in  time  for  the  resurrection." 

LINCOLN   RAISES   A   WARNING   VOICE   AGAINST   THE 
■CONCENTRATION    OF   GREAT    WEALTH. 

"Liberty  cannot  long  endure,"  said  Webster,  "when  the 
tendency  is  to  concentrate  wealth  in  the  hands  of  a  few." 

President  Lincoln,  in  a  message  to  Congress,  said  of 
this  danger:       "Monarchy  itself  is  sometimes  hinted  at 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  445 

as  a  possible  refuge  from  the  power  of  the  people.  In 
my  present  position  I  could  scarcely  be  justified  were  I 
to  omit  raising  a  warning  voice  against  approaching 
despotism.  There  is  one  point  to  which  I  ask  a  brief 
attention.  It  is  the  effort  to  place  capital  on  an  equal 
footing  with,  if  not  above,  labor  in  the  structure  of  the 
government.  Let  them  beware  of  surrendering  a  political 
power  which  they  already  have,  and  which  if  surrendered 
will  surely  be  used  to  close  the  door  of  advancement 
against  such  as  they,  and  to  fix  new  disabilities  and  bur- 
dens upon  them  till  all  liberty  shall  be  lost." 

LINCOLN   AND   THE   DYING   SOLDIER   BOY. 

One  day  in  May,  1863,  while  the  great  war  was  raging 
between  the  North  and  South,  President  Lincoln  paid  a 
visit  to  one  of  the  military  hospitals,  says  an  exchange. 
He  had  spoken  many  cheering  words  of  sympathy  to 
the  wounded  as  he  proceeded  through  the  various  wards, 
and  now  he  was  at  the  bedside  of  a  Vermont  boy  of  about 
sixteen  years  of  age,  who  lay  there  mortally  wounded. 

Taking  the  dying  boy's  thin,  white  hand  in  his  own, 
the  President  said,  in  a  tender  tone: 

"Well,  my  poor  boy,  what  can  I  do  for  you?" 

The  young  fellow  looked  up  into  the  President's  kindly 
face  and  asked :    "Won't  you  write  to  my  mother  for  me?" 

"That  I  will,"  answered  Mr.  Lincoln;  and  calling  for  a 
pen,  ink  and  paper,  he  seated  liimself  by  the  side  of  the 
bed  and  wrote  from  the  boy's  dictation.  It  was  a  long 
letter,  but  the  President  betrayed  no  sign  of  weariness. 
When  it  was  finished,  he  rose,  saying: 

"I  will  post  this  as  soon  as  I  get  back  to  my  office. 
Now  is  there  anything  else  I  can  do  for  you?" 

The  boy  looked  up  appealingly  to  the  President. 


446 


Life  of  Abrah.\m  Lincoln. 


"Won't  you  stay  with  me?"  he  asked.  "I  do  want  to 
hold  on  to  your  hand." 

]\Ir.  Lincohi  at  once  perceived  the  lad's  meaning.  The 
appeal  was  too  strong  for  him  to  resist ;  so  he  sat  down  by 
his  side  and  took  hold  of  his  hand.  For  two  hours  the 
President  sat  there  patiently  as  though  he  had  been  the 
boy's  father. 

When  the  end  came  he  bent  over  and  folded  the  thin 
hands  over  his  breast.  As  he  did  so  he  burst  into  tears, 
and  when,  soon  afterward,  he  left  the  hospital,  they  were 
still  streaining  down  his  cheeks. 


THE  DANDY,  THE  BUGS  AND  THE  PRESIDENT. 


President  Lincoln  appointed  as  consul  to  a  South  Ameri- 
can country  a  young  man  from  Ohio  who  was  a  dandy. 
A  wag  met  the  new  appointee  on  his  way  to  the  White 
House  to  thank  the  President.  He  was  dressed  in  the 
most  extravagant  style.  The  wag  horrified  him  by  telling 
him  that  the  country  to  wliich  he  was  assigned  was  noted 
chiefly  for  the  bugs  that  aboimded  there  and  made  life 
unbearable.  "They'll  bore  a  hole  clean  through  you 
before  a  week  has  passed,"  was  the  comforting  assurance 
of  the  wag  as  they  parted  at  the  White  House  steps. 
The  new  consul  approached  Lincoln  with  cUsappointment 
clearly  written  all  over  his  face.  Listead  of  joyously 
thanking  the  Pi'esitlent,  he  told  lum  the  wag's  story  of 
the  bugs.  "I  am  informed,  Mr.  President,"  he  said, 
"that  the  place  is  full  of  vermin  and  that  they  could  eat 
me  up  in  a  week's  time."  "AVell,  young  man,"  replied 
Lincoln,  "if  that's  true  all  I've  got  to  say  is  that  if  such  a 
thing  happened  they  would  leave  a  mighty  good  suit  of 
clothes  behind." 


Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  447 

lincoln  upheld  the  hands  of  general  grant. 

In  his  "Campaigning  with  Grant,"  in  the  Century, 
Gen.  Horace  Porter  told  of  Gen.  Halleck's  fear  of  trouble 
from  the  enforceing  of  the  draft,  and  his  desire  that 
Grant  should  send  troops  to  the  Northern  cities.  Gen. 
Porter  says: 

On  the  evening  of  August  17  Gen.  Grant  was  sitting  in 
front  of  his  quarters,  with  several  staff  officers  about  him, 
when  the  telegraph  operator  came  over  from  his  tent  and 
handed  him  a  dispatch.  He  opened  it,  and  as  he  proceeded 
with  the  reading  of  it  his  face  became  suffused  with  smiles. 
After  he  had  finished  he  broke  into  a  hearty  laugh.  We 
were  curious  to  know  what  could  produce  so  much  merri- 
ment in  the  general  in  the  midst  of  the  trying  circum- 
stances which  surrounded  him.  He  cast  his  eyes  over  the 
dispatch  again,  and  then  remarked:  "The  President  has 
more  nerve  than  any  of  liis  advisers.  This  is  what  he 
says  after  reading  my  reply  to  Halleck's  dispatch."  He 
then  read  aloud  to  us  the  following: 

"I  have  seen  your  dispatch  expressing  your  unwilling- 
ness to  break  your  hold  where  you  are.  Neither  am  I 
willing.  Hold  on  with  a  bulldog  grip,  and  chew  and  choke 
as  much  as  possible. 

"A.  Lincoln." 

WHY   LINCOLN   TOLD   STORIES. 

Mr.  Edward  Rosewater,  editor  of  the  Omaha  Bee,  said 
he  beheved  Lincoln  got  relaxation  by  his  story  telling, 
and  that  the  hearing  of  a  good  story  gave  him  the  mental 
rest  that  he  so  much  needed  during  those  brain  taxing 
days.  These  stories  came  out  under  the  most  trying 
circumstances  and  at  the  most  solemn  times.     A  striking 


448  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

,  instance  of  this  was  just  after  tlie  battle  of  Fredericks- 
burg. After  the  L^nion  armies  were  defeated  an  official 
who  had  seen  the  battle  hurried  to  Washington.  He 
reached  there  about  midnight  and  went  directl}-  to  the 
White  House.  President  Lincoln  had  not  yet  retired, 
and  the  man  was  at  once  received.  Lincoln  had  already 
heard  some  reports  of  the  battle.  He  was  feeling  very 
sad  and  rested  his  head  upon  his  hands  while  the  story 
was  repeated  to  him.  As  the  man  saw  his  intense  suffer- 
ing he  remarked: 

"I  wish,  Mr.  President,  that  I  might  be  a  messenger 
of  good  news  instead  of  bad.  I  wish  I  could  tell  you  how 
to  conquer  or  to  get  rid  of  those  rebellious  States." 

At  this  President  Lincoln  looked  up  and  a  smile  came 
across  his  face  as  he  said:  "That  reminds  me  of  two  boys 
out  in  Illinois  who  took  a  short  cut  across  an  orchard. 
When  they  were  in  the  middle  of  the  field  they  saw  a 
vicious  dog  bounding  toward  them.  One  of  the 
boys  was  sly  enough  to  climb  a  tree,  but  the  other  ran 
around  the  tree,  with  the  dog  following.  He  kept  running 
until,  by  making  smaller  circles  than  it  was  possible  for 
his  pursuer  to  make,  he  gained  upon  the  dog  sufficiently 
to  grasp  his  tail.  He  held  on  to  the  tail  with  a  desperate 
grip  imtil  nearly  exhausted,  when  he  called  to  the  boy 
up  the  tree  to  come  down  and  help. 

"What  for?"  said  the  boy. 

"I  want  you  to  help  me  let  this  dog  go." 

"Now,"  concluded  President  Lincoln,  "if  I  could  only 
let  the  rebel  States  go  it  would  be  all  right.  But  I  am 
compelled  to  hold  on  to  them  and  make  them  stay." 


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